Page 6 - LM Confidential Issue September 2014

Philippines
‘Anti-selfie’ bill in Congress
A Lot of Details Need to Be More Defined Or It Will be Used to Suppress Press Freedom
MANILA - If you’re the type of person who enjoys taking random snapshots of people, places, things and even the ubiquitous selfies and groupies and then posting them on social media, better be careful.
According to Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, there’s a bill in Congress that seeks to bar taking photos of people without their permission.
House Bill 4807 or the Protection against Personal Intrusion Act is now up for 3rd reading in plenary.
It defines “intrusion of personal privacy” as “any person who willfully intrudes into the personal privacy of another, without the consent of that person and with the intent to gain or profit therefrom, shall be civilly liable to the offended party.”
Section 4 of the bill says any person whose personal privacy was intruded as defined
Calls For Duterte
Presidency Grow
DAVAO CITY – The nationwide signature drive aimed at convincing Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to run for president come 2016 is now reaching more provinces in the
country.
The movement’s prime mover,
Barangay Captain Mar Masanguid, said provincial coordinators are already working in various areas to gather signatures for their cause. “These coordinators do not receive a single centavo from us. They work as volunteers”, Masanguid said.
A number of governors, congressmen, mayors, councilors and barangay captains have already been reached by the movement, not only in Mindanao but also in Visayas and Luzon.
may in a civil action against the person who committed the intrusion, obtain any appropriate relief, including compensatory damages, punitive damages, and injunctive and declaratory relief.
Any person obtaining relief may be either the person whose visual or auditory impression has been captured or the owner of the private property trespassed to capture the visual image, sound recording or other physical impression of another.
the provisions of this act,” the bill explained.
The only exemption from this act are legitimate law enforcement activities.
The bill is authored by Congressmen Rufus Rodriguez, Maximo Rodriguez, Jorge Almonte, Gwendolyn Garcia, Linabelle Ruth Villarica, Lito Atienza and Leopoldo Bataoil.
Crime under control
MANILA - Malacanang said the public remains safe amid the rash of violent crimes recently, including the killing of a Quezon City policeman.
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other law enforcement units are on top of the situation. According to him, there is a continuing effort by the government to “instill respect for the law. The crime situation is well under the control of the police authorities,” Coloma pointed out.
To contain crime, Interior and Lo- cal Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd directed the PNP to increase police visibility to curb crime despite a report by the National Capi- tal Regional Police Office (NCRPO) that criminality was on a downtrend in August.
No More Selfies, Paparazzi?
Critics said the bill has wide ranging implications on press freedom and even social media.
Jose Torres Jr., board member of the Photojournalists’ Center of the Philippines (PCP), Inc., said the bill needs to define what “intent to gain or profit therefrom” means.
“It would seem that people from the media and journalists can be targets of the proposed measure. Worthy of being emphasized is the phrase ‘with intent to gain or profit therefrom.’ In case a complaint is filed in court against a photojournalist, can lack of intent to gain be used as defense?
“It must be clearly defined what can be classified for ‘gain’ or ‘profit.’ News outfits - newspapers, magazines, television, online publications, radio, and news wire agencies - are basically for profit organizations.There must be clear provisions that specify that news gathering must be exempted from this section,” he added.
The group said it wants media to be exempted from the coverage of the proposed law.
The group is also pushing for a definition of “private property.”
“We worry that this proposed measure can become a tool that ‘unwilling public figures’ will use to suppress press freedom.”
DOH Must Pay Taxes - Customs
MANILA - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) stood firm that the almost 1,000 boxes of drugs for people car- rying the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) would only be released if the Department of Health (DOH) submitted required documents and paid duties and taxes on imported products. If the DOH complied,
it could have the drugs after only “several hours,” BOC spokeswoman Charo Logarta said. She added that there is no exemption to paying taxes on the imported products even if the transaction was made through two government agencies.
“We will make sure [the drugs] will be cleared. This is a normal thing. We don’t want to give special treatment because it is a government agency [that is a party to the transaction],” Logarta said, referring to the DOH.
A lot of attendees at the Taste of Manila were posing with Don Laurel.
Former Star Magic
actor now a police-
man in Toronto
TORONTO, Canada – A former Star Magic actor traded in television scripts for a police badge in Toronto.
Police officers of the 32 Division in Toronto were confused when Constable Don Laurel would do calls.
“When he went out on the road and did some calls I noticed that he had a little bit of a fanfare following him around and recognizing him,” said Sergeant Lawrence Sager of the Toronto Police Service 32 Division.
It all became clear when they discovered Laurel was once a star in the Philippines.
He appeared on TV shows like the 90s Filipino teen drama series, Gimik and Sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan with Claudine Barretto and Carlos Agassi.
But Laurel said his dream as a kid was always to be a police officer.
“I’m very proud to wear this uniform and helping out not just the Filipino community as well, but the whole city of Toronto,” Constable Laurel said.
He’s been living the dream for six years as a front- line officer for the 32 Division.
Since then, Laurel has contributed a lot to Filipi- nos who are the second largest ethnic community in Toronto.
He works with the Philippine Consulate in Toronto and holds information sessions for newcomers, ex- plaining the laws and their rights to them.
Laurel’s acting and ethnic background have helped him on the job.
“I’m always looking for people that can represent the police service in a professional way that can talk well to people and can interact and he has the advantage of knowing language,” said Superinten- dent Sam Fernandes.
Laurel tells kababayans not to be afraid to reach out to the police for help.
“I just want them to know that it’s ok to speak, we’re there to help you,” he said.
SEPTEMBER 2014
Scenes in Cities 6
L. M. Confidential
FROM LEFT, LM Confidential correspondent Froilan Baking is seated beside actor Daniel Padilla on the way back from Davao; UMAC joins Filipino Expo; Philippine Chamber of Commerce Toronto president Oswald Tugadi receives a certificate of Appreciation from Canadian Senator Tobias “Jun” Enverga (PHOTO BY ARIEL RAMOS) ; FV Foods Mel Galeon poses with TV5’s stars Arnel Ignacio, Gellie de Belen and Derek Ramsay (PHOTO BY ARIEL RAMOS).