REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

SUPREME COURT
Manila

Gentlemen and Mesdames:

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a Resolution of the Court En Banc

dated May 9, 2017:

G.R. No. 432165 entitled Edric Tancinco, Genevieve Libutaque, Crystal Tutay,
Micah Morales, Coopey Angeles, Monci Martin and Dong Chul Lee vs. the Hon. Ma.
Luisa Padilla and Andrea Chua -- After considering the petition and comment
filed in this Special Civil Action for Certiorari, the Court RESOLVED to:

(1) GIVE due course to the petition;

(2) REQUIRE the parties to file their respective statement of issues within
a non-extendible period expiring on 15 May 2017;

(3) REQUIRE the parties to file their respective outline of arguments and
memoranda within a non-extendible period expiring on 27 May 2017; and

(4) SET this case for ORAL ARGUMENT on 10 June 2017.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) ALDRICH U. DY
Clerk of Court

Cc: Counsel (for petitioners)

The Solicitor-General (for respondents)

134 Amorsolo St.,
Legaspi Village, Makati City

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 THE CASE OF TROLLING AND CYBERBULLYING
IN THE WAKE OF THE MARCOS BURIAL

1. Five (5) candidates ran during the hotly-contested 2016 Philippine Presidential
Elections. One of the candidates was a controversial figure, Rodrigo R. Duterte.

2. Despite denying several times that he had plans to run for the presidency,
Rodrigo R. Duterte surprised both his fans and detractors when he finally filed
his certificate of candidacy in December 2015, substituting PDP-Laban candidate
Martin Dino.

3. During his campaign, the Mayor from Davao City was the center of media
attention because of his controversial and expletive-laden statements. One of his
most controversial statements was his campaign promise to allow the late former
President Ferdinand E. Marcos to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani
(LNMB).1 This sparked outrage among civil rights activists and victims of
martial law.

4. Despite the controversy surrounding Rodrigo R. Duterte, and the fact that he
started on the campaign trail later than everyone else, he emerged victorious to
everyone's surprise, including his own.

5. On May 30, 2016, after completing the canvass for the Presidential Elections,
Congress in a joint session proclaimed Rodrigo R. Duterte as the winner of the
2016 Philippine Presidential Elections and the next President of the Philippines.

6. Not long after he assumed office, President Duterte followed through on his
promise to the Marcoses and issued a verbal order allowing the late President
Marcos to be buried in the LNMB.2 Pursuant to such verbal order, the Secretary
of National Defense, Delfin N. Lorenzana, issued a Memorandum addressed to
the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), General Ricardo
R. Visaya, directing the latter to make the necessary preparations for the
interment.3 AFP Rear Admiral Ernesto C. Enriquez issued a corresponding
directive to the Philippine Army Commanding General.

7. Various victims of Martial Law filed petitions for certiorari and prohibition
before the Supreme Court to stop the burial of the late President Marcos at the
LNMB. The case was docketed as G.R. No. 225973 and became known as Ocampo
vs. Enriquez.4

8. Andrea Chua was a 16-year old high school student studying in CKS High
School. She was the president of the CKS Student Council and a consistent honor
student. Her father was a Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI),
while her mother worked as a Chief of Staff for one of the members of the House
of Representatives.

1 Culled from the facts in Ocampo vs. Enriquez, G.R. No. 225973, November 8, 2016.
2 Culled from the facts in Ocampo vs. Enriquez, G.R. No. 225973, November 8, 2016.
3 Culled from the facts in Ocampo vs. Enriquez, G.R. No. 225973, November 8, 2016.
4 Culled from the facts in Ocampo vs. Enriquez, G.R. No. 225973, November 8, 2016.

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9. Andreas parents would often remind her of the need to fight for ones freedom
and liberty, and to prevent the Marcoses from rising to power again. As she was
growing up, her parents would tell her stories about what happened during
Martial Law. Her father's parents were activists who had gone underground to
oppose the Marcos regime and were subsequently incarcerated, tortured, and
killed. Her mother's parents were lawyers who represented and defended the
Martial Law victims and their families in court. Andrea learned all of these
stories by heart, and vowed to honor the memory of her grandparents. During
her last visit to the cemetery on All Saints Day 2015, she promised on her
grandparents graves that she would become a lawyer and champion the weak
and oppressed.

10. Thus, when Andrea heard the news that President Duterte had given the go-
signal for the Marcos burial at LNMB, her blood boiled and she was filled with
anger. As soon as class was dismissed that day, she convened a meeting of the
student council to discuss the matter. She reminded them that as student leaders,
it was their responsibility to stand up for justice and freedom, and to awaken the
consciousness of their fellow students. It was not difficult for Andrea to convince
the council: many of them had parents, relatives, and family friends who were
part of the Martial Law resistance, and all of them felt strongly about the Marcos
burial. They immediately issued an official statement condemning the
President's action, which they posted on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

11. The Student Council also sought an audience with the Principal of CKS High
School and eventually the President and CEO of CKS Educational Foundation,
to convince them to allow the students to protest against the Marcos burial at
LNMB. Both the Principal and President were sympathetic, but said that they
would need to raise the matter to the Board of Trustees. After weeks of
deliberation, the Board of Trustees, by unanimous vote, approved the students
proposal, and granted the President of CKS Educational Foundation authority
to allow the students of CKS High School to hold a protest rally at the EDSA
Shrine.

12. On November 10, 2016, the Supreme Court handed down its Decision in Ocampo
vs. Enriquez, G.R. No. 225973. With a vote of 9-5, the Supreme Court, speaking
through Justice Peralta, declared that there was no law that prevented President
Marcos from being buried at the LNMB. Opponents to the Marcos burial,
including the students of CKS High School, bristled at the Supreme Courts
characterization of President Marcos as someone who [w]hile he was not all
good, he was not pure evil either and as someone who is just a human who
erred like all of us.

13. On November 11, 2016, the students of CKS High School, led by Andrea and the
rest of the student council, joined students from other high schools, colleges, and
universities, and rallyists and protesters from all walks of life at the EDSA Shrine
to rally and protest the Supreme Courts Decision in Ocampo vs. Enriquez. The
protesters rallied from late afternoon until midnight. The events of the rally were
well-documented on social media, with the protesters posting their selfies and
commentaries in real time via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Live.

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14. The day after the rally, just as she was getting ready for bed, Andrea checked
her various social media accounts. She was shocked to find several disturbing
photographs from an anonymous sender via Facebook Messenger. There were 2
sets of pictures. One set consisted of actual photos of Andrea which had been
photoshopped to make it appear that she had posed naked for the camera. The
other set consisted of lewd photographs of porn stars in sexually explicit
positions on which Andreas face had been superimposed. The photos came
with a threat that if Andrea did not stop organizing the CKS rallies against the
Marcos burial, these pictures would made public via social media.

15. Andrea also received nasty comments on her Facebook posts of the November
11 EDSA Shrine rally. Several unknown persons had posted messages of Bobo,
Puta, Elitista and various expletives.

16. Andrea was horrified by the pictures and comments. She reached out to her
friends in the student council and found out that they too had received similar
messages. She cried all night, wondering how people could be so vicious. It was
the longest night for the young high school student.

17. The next morning, Andrea told her parents about what had happened and
showed them the pictures and messages. With her parents' help, she regained
her composure and mapped out a plan of action to determine who was
responsible for the pictures and messages.

18. When Andrea took a closer look at the photos, she noticed that they looked very
familiar. She reached for her stash of private photographs taken with her secret
college boyfriend, Edric Tancinco, and realized that these were the same
photographs that had been used and photoshopped. Andrea wondered how the
anonymous Facebook account holder was able to take hold of her private
collection as only she and Edric had access to them.

19. Andrea's parents did not approve of her having a boyfriend, so she and Edric
had to keep their relationship a secret. They eventually broke up over their
political differences -- Edric and his family were diehard Marcos loyalists and
Duterte supporters and because she refused to give in to Edrics demands that
they go all the way. Edric had been pressuring Andrea to act out his 50 Shades of
Grey and 50 Shades Darker fantasies, and they had had bitter fights over her
refusal to give in.

20. With the help of her parents friends at the NBI, they were able to trace the IP
address of the anonymous Facebook account holder. Andrea was crestfallen
when it was traced to Edric Tancinco's address at Napocor Village 1, Tandang
Sora, Quezon City.

21. The NBI agents applied for a search warrant with the Regional Trial Court of
Quezon City, Branch 90, which was presided over by the Hon. Ma. Luisa Padilla.

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22. Judge Ma. Luisa Padilla had been on the Bench for nearly 2 decades and was
already nearing retirement age. She was well-known in legal circles as a Luddite
who eschewed computers and any related technologies, and would publicly
voice her displeasure over these works of the devil every chance she could get.
She insisted on writing out her decisions by hand or dictating them to her
stenographer. Her children and office staff had long given up on the possibility
of teaching her how to use the computer; she simply refused to learn. It thus
came as a shock to everyone, including Judge Padilla, that this case had been
raffled to her.

21. The NBI agents submitted the following evidence to support their application:

a. Screenshots of the photos that Andrea had received via Facebook

Messenger;
b. Screenshots of the comments on Andrea's Facebook posts on the rally
against the Marcos burial;
c. An affidavit from Andrea attesting that she recognized the photos that
had been sent to her and that only Edric Tancinco could have had access
to those photos;
d. An affidavit from an NBI agent stating that:

i. He examined the pictures sent to Andrea's Facebook account

and was able to trace it to Edric Tancinco's address at Napocor
Village 1, Tandang Sora, Quezon City.
ii. He was able to make this identification with the help of the
Internet Service Provider, who provided the identity and
address of the IP address where the pictures came from.
iii. These acts give rise to probable cause that violations of the
Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (R.A. No. 10175), Anti-Child
Pornography Act of 2009 (R.A. No. 9775) and Anti-Violence
Against Women and their Children Act (R.A. No. 9262) had been
committed and the materials used to commit said crimes were
stored somewhere on the premises.

22. While Judge Padilla did not know about computers, she knew her duty as a
judge. She ordered the 2 witnesses to swear to their affidavits on the witness
stand, and both of them affirmed the truth and veracity of the affidavits.

23. After this, the lead counsel for the applicants then asked searching questions
from each of the witnesses in order to elicit further details on how they were able
to trace the picture to Edric Tancinco at his address. After the lead counsel
completed his examination of the witnesses, Judge Padilla re-examined the
affidavits, the documentary evidence, and the transcript of stenographic notes.

24. On the basis of the evidence that had been presented, Judge Padilla issued a
search warrant authorizing peace officers to check House 2, Napocor Village 1,
Tandang Sora, Quezon City and to search and seize all computers, disks,
machines, video equipment used to commit violations of the Cybercrime
Prevention Act of 2012, Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 and Anti-Violence
Against Women and their Children Act.

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24. The NBI agents proceeded to House 2, Napocor Village 1, Tandang Sora, Quezon
City and raided the premises. Upon entering the premises, the NBI agents saw
seven (7) individuals, namely, Edric Tancinco, Genevieve Libutaque, Crystal
Tutay, Micah Morales, Coopey Angeles, Monci Martin and Dong Chul Lee,
working on ten (10) different laptops. Genevieve, Crystal, and Micah were
posting comments on Facebook accounts using fake Facebook accounts. The
comments ranged from cursing the Facebook user's physical appearance, to
hurling expletives for supporting the Vice-President of the Philippines or the
members of the Liberal Party, and even asking the Facebook user to commit
suicide as he/she is nothing more than an insignificant bug whose existence in
life is meaningless. Monci and Dong Chul were hacking the social media
accounts of students, young professionals, celebrities and models, and
downloading their pictures without their permission. Edric and Coopey were
busy photoshopping pictures of women and teenage girls to make them appear
that they were in various stages of undress. The guys had porn videos running
in the background as they worked.

25. The NBI agents arrested Edric Tancinco, Genevieve Libutaque, Crystal Tutay,
Micah Morales, Coopey Angeles, Monci Martin and Dong Chul Lee and seized
all ten (10) laptops spread around the room. The seven suspects were brought to
NBI Headquarters together with the seized items.

26. As the suspects were being transported by NBI agents, Micah Morales, who had
had eight (8) cups of coffee over the past 12 hours, was so nervous that when
one of the NBI agents stared at him on the way to Headquarters, he confessed to
everything.

26. At NBI Headquarters, the NBI agents went over the ten (10) seized laptops. They
discovered that five (5) of these laptops were used to manage Facebook and/or
Instagram groups created solely for the purpose of obtaining pictures of
students, young professionals, celebrities and models from their respective
social media accounts. These pictures, in turn, were disseminated to their
members, either in their original form or altered/photoshopped in some way.
Each member would be asked to rate the pictures, and to post their comments
or to bash the subject of the picture in the Facebook group. The other five (5)
laptops were used to moderate private Facebook groups which discussed
politics and grievances against government and politicians. One laptop was
used to moderate a Facebook group which disseminated sample exams to
students in different law schools. All laptops contained dozens of fake Facebook
accounts, a large collection of photos of women and girls, and porn videos
ranging from soft porn to XXX.

27. An inquest was conducted and the confession of Micah Morales was presented
as evidence. After conducting an inquest, the City Prosecutor of Quezon City
filed an Information with the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, Branch 215
charging Edric Tancinco, Genevieve Libutaque, Crystal Tutay, Micah Morales,

Page 6 of 7
 Coopey Angeles, Monci Martin and Dong Chul Lee of violations of the
Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 and
the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act. The records of the
search warrant proceedings were then transferred to the Regional Trial Court of
Quezon City, Branch 215. The accused posted bail and were able to secure their
provisional liberty.

28. Edric Tancinco, Genevieve Libutaque, Crystal Tutay, Micah Morales, Coopey
Angeles, Monci Martin and Dong Chul Lee moved to quash the Information and
the search warrant.

29. The private complainant, Andrea Chua, on the other hand, applied with the trial
court for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction to stop the accused from
operating the Facebook/Instagram groups as the continued operation of these
groups violated her right to privacy and dignity, as well as countless other
peoples rights. The accused opposed the application, claiming that these are
private groups and that the matters discussed in these Facebook/Instagram
groups are protected by free speech and freedom of expression.

30. After hearing both parties, the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, Branch 215
issued an order denying the motion to quash the Information and search
warrant, ruling that both the Information and the search warrant are valid. The
Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, Branch 215 likewise issued an order
granting the application for a writ of preliminary injunction, and ordered the
accused to deactivate the Facebook/Instagram groups.

31. The accused filed a motion for reconsideration, but the same was denied.

32. In the meantime, the contents of the 10 laptops were leaked, and information,
including those pertaining to the private affairs of the accused, were being
disseminated to the public through news articles, social media and the likes. Left
without any recourse, the accused filed a petition for certiorari questioning the
orders issued by the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, Branch 215.

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