214 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition anyone who “by words, utterances or speeches shall encourage disobedience to the law or to the constituted authorities, or praise, justify, or extol any act punished by law”, who publishes “any ofcial resolution or document without proper authority, or before they have been published ofcially”, as well as anyone who publishes or distributes anonymous leaets. Penalties include a prison term of three months, plus a ne of from P200 to P1,000 (USD 4 to USD 25). Defamation Libel, a criminal offense that carries imprisonment upon conviction in the Philippines, is provided for in the same Penal Code (Articles 353 to 362). Prison terms range from one day to six years, in addition to the imposition of nes. These are minimal (between USD 4 to USD 25) as in the case of violations of Article 154, but this does not prevent complainants from demanding millions of pesos in damages, some of which have been awarded, although higher courts have later reversed them. Criminal libel, which goes back to the period of US colonization, has been particularly problematic in the Philippines in the last decade, during which period politicians as well as former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's husband used it against journalists critical of government. Journalists have been imprisoned upon conviction in recent years but despite the efforts of media advocacy and journalists' organizations to decriminalize libel in the Philippines, it has remained in the Penal Code. Article 353 denes libel as “a public and malicious imputation of a crime or a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission condition, status or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.” Article 354 declares that “every defamatory imputation is presumed to be malicious, even if it be true,” except when it is made in a private communication to another person undertaking a legal, moral, or social duty; and when it is in a report on “any judicial, legislative or other ofcial proceedings…or any act performed by public ofcers in the exercise of their functions.” Articles 355 to 359 contain a list of penalties for various degrees of libel, ranging from a ne of 200 to 6,000 Philippines pesos (USD 4 to USD 120), to a ne of 200 to 2,000 pesos and imprisonment between six months and six years. (Philippine courts, however, have applied these light penalties to each instance of libel allegedly committed, so that ten counts or instances of libel committed in an article, for example, could result in a penalty of 60,000 (6,000 x 10) Philippine pesos and imprisonment of 10 years. Article 201 of the same Code penalizes the publication of obscene material punishable by up to three years imprisonment and nes of between six and 12 thousand pesos (about USD 125 to USD 250).