Writer In Cebu City Filed Over Socmed Post Regarding Zapatera
CEBU CITY – Maria Victoria Beltran, a writer and artist in Cebu City, will be charged by authorities over her satirical post about Sitio Zapatera.
Beltran was charged by the Regional Intelligence Division (RID 7) and Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit (RACU 7).
According to SunStar, Vincent Isles, her lawyer, enumerated the cases against her as the following:
- violation of Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code in lieu to Section 6 of Republic Act (RA) No. 10175, also known as the Anti-Cybercrime Act of 2012
- violation of Section 6f of Republic Act (RA) No. 11469, also known as the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act
- Violation of Section 9b of Republic Act (RA) No. 11332, of the law which implements the mandatory reporting of certain diseases.
Isles added that Beltran is now under the custody of the Police Regional Office (PRO 7) as her camp was unable to post bail due to the reduced operating hours of the court.
The prosecutor found enough proof to elevate the complaints against the writer to court for a full-blown trial. These will be taken to court on Tuesday, April 21. On that same day, Beltran is expected to post bail.
Benjamin Militar, another of Beltran’s counsel, said that they welcome the development that the Philippine National Police (PNP) will file at the Prosecutor’s Office.
“That’s good because the full facts of the case will be ventilated in a court proceeding,”
As per the report, the writer was arrested without a warrant via a joint operation from the RID 7 and RACU 7. Both Beltran’s counsel said that there was no basis for her arrest.
She was arrested due to her satirical post on Facebook that there are allegedly 9,000 new coronavirus disease 2019 cases in Cebu City, with Sitio Zapatera as its epicenter.
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