Stephen Michael Bacosa, Sotto's nephew through his wife Helen Gamboa, sent a private message to a certain Adrian Arcega, saying: "Pare dahan dahan lang sa pambabastos mo sa uncle ko ha? kilala kita. ka batch ka ng utol ko!! kung cyber bully ka, ako BULLY sa real world at alam nyo yan." - A quote from GMA news online.

"Stephen Michael Bacosa ended up himself bullying someone on Facebook in an attempt to defend his uncle’s good name".-GMA news online.

Arcega replied: "How 'exactly' ako nambastos? Don't forget, I (and the rest of the people) am your uncle's boss. Whether I'm right or wrong, it comes with the territory."

Tito Sotto became so controverial when he got involved in a handful of plagiarisms which includes Robert Kennedy's speech, an article of US blogger Janice Formichella and Sarah Pope, among others. Tito Sotto denied all of those plagiarism complaints and recently he also denied the insertion of libel in Cybercrime Prevention Law.

The screenshots of these messages are shown below, Figure 1 & 2.

The allege message of Stephen Michael Bacosa to Adrian Arcega in Facebook

According to GMA news online, these images are rapidly circulating in facebook just like how the Tito Sotto memes went viral on the social networking site.

Adrian Arcega, a musician and TV show director, hinted that his posts last Sunday, most of which were reposts, were probably what provoked Bacosa into making these threats. One of the posts was a Facebook note about the Cybercrime Law.

Arcega and Bacosa are not "friends" on Facebook but Arcega is a "friend" of one of Bacosa’s family members. Arcega declined to name the family member out of respect for his friend who has remained silent and respectful about the issue. This indirect connection allowed Bacosa to see Arcega’s posts about Senator Sotto and the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Law or RA 10175.

The exchange of messages between Stephen Michael Bacosa and Adrian Arcega

So, we have now a subject for investigation and could be an ultimate challenge for our so-called cybercrime busters to weigh the situation. Now, if this can be categorized under the Cybercrime Prevention law, will it be a big challenge for the cybercrime busters to hunt Stephen Michael Bacosa to let him face the consequence of his actions in relation to the provisions of the Cybercrime Prevention Law?

Sec. 6 of the Cybercrime Preventiona Law states:

SEC. 6. All crimes defined and penalized by the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and special laws, if committed by, through and with the use of information and communications technologies shall be covered by the relevant provisions of this Act: Provided, That the penalty to be imposed shall be one (1) degree higher than that provided for by the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and special laws, as the case may be.

Okay, Cybercrime covers crimes as defined by the Revised Penal Code. Is there a doubt if Stephen Michael Bacosa and Adrian Arcega's case will fall under the Threats and coercion of Penal Code?

The Revised Penal Code of the Philippines , Chapter Two CRIMES AGAINST SECURITY , Section Three. — Threats and coercion, Articles 282-285:

Art. 282. Grave threats. — Any person who shall threaten another with the infliction upon the person, honor or property of the latter or of his family of any wrong amounting to a crime, shall suffer:
1. The penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for the crime be threatened to commit, if the offender shall have made the threat demanding money or imposing any other condition, even though not unlawful, and said offender shall have attained his purpose. If the offender shall not have attained his purpose, the penalty lower by two degrees shall be imposed.If the threat be made in writing or through a middleman, the penalty shall be imposed in its maximum period.

2. The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos, if the threat shall not have been made subject to a condition.

Art. 283. Light threats. — Any threat to commit a wrong not constituting a crime, made in the manner expressed in subdivision 1 of the next preceding article, shall be punished by arresto mayor.

Art. 284. Bond for good behavior. — In all cases falling within the two next preceding articles, the person making the threats may also be required to give bail not to molest the person threatened, or if he shall fail to give such bail, he shall be sentenced to destierro.

Art. 285. Other light threats. — The penalty of arresto menor in its minimum period or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who, without being included in the provisions of the next preceding article, shall threaten another with a weapon or draw such weapon in a quarrel, unless it be in lawful self-defense.
2. Any person who, in the heat of anger, shall orally threaten another with some harm not constituting a crime, and who by subsequent acts show that he did not persist in the idea involved in his threat, provided that the circumstances of the offense shall not bring it within the provisions of Article 282 of this Code.

DiversityHuman.com will check any development of this case in the next few days.

Disclaimer: DiversityHuman.com published this article for the primary purpose of informing our countrymen for a case which could probably be categorized under Cybercrime Prevention Law. The news came from one of the trusted media in the country-GMA news online. DiversityHuman.com doesn't aim to destroy any reputation of the two parties involved in this alleged cyber bullying issue.

• Sections of the Revised Penal Code were retrieved from Chanrobles Virtual Law library.