1 hour ago
3
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
May 22, 2026 | 1:15pm
MANILA, Philippines — Cybercrime authorities have filed a criminal complaint against a vice mayor in northern Isabela, accusing him of inciting sedition and rebellion in social media broadcasts where he asked viewers whether they were willing to die in a revolt against the government.
Aboy Paraiso, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) undersecretary, filed the complaint-affidavit against Reina Mercedes Vice Mayor Jeryll Harold Respicio with the National Bureau of Investigation on Friday, May 22.
"The complaints we are eyeing [against Respicio] are inciting to sedition, rebellion, and unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances," NBI Director Melvin Matibag said in mixed English and Filipino.
The bureau will subpoena Respicio to give him a chance to explain his side, then proceed with case buildup and elevate it to the Department of Justice, Matibag added.
Respicio, who took office last year after a contested election, has not formally responded to the complaint. In a Facebook video posted at around 7 a.m. Friday, hours before the charges were announced, he hurled expletives at NBI Director Melvin Matibag.
'Willing to die'
Some of the remarks cited in the complaint — as relayed by Matibag from the affidavit — show Respicio asking his audience online if they were "willing to die" for a revolution against the government.
"So willing ba kayong magrebolusyon?" Respicio asked, according to the affidavit. The audience answered, "Oo." He asked: "Willing ba kayong mamatay?" The audience again answered, "Oo."
"If you look at the elements of the crimes we mentioned, it's all there. And he is a lawyer," Matibag said in Filipino.
Matibag said Respicio, a lawyer and certified public accountant, could also face disbarment proceedings before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines once the criminal case moves forward.
The NBI chief said Paraiso could have filed directly with the DOJ but chose to course the complaint through the bureau to give Respicio a chance to respond before the case is elevated for prosecution.
Paraiso said the filing carries out an agreement among the CICC, NBI, and the Presidential Communications Office to monitor online conduct that crosses from protected speech into incitement.
Another legal trouble
The case is the latest legal trouble for Respicio, who narrowly won the vice mayoralty of Reina Mercedes, a town of fewer than 30,000 people, in the May 2025 midterm polls. He defeated his half-brother by fewer than 600 votes.
His proclamation was briefly suspended by the Commission on Elections, which had filed cybercrime charges against him in February 2025 over videos in which he claimed he could manipulate the country's automated voting machines.
He surrendered to a Manila court in June after a warrant was issued and posted bail.
Asked Friday whether the new charges were politically motivated, Matibag rejected the suggestion. Officials maintained throughout the briefing that the case was not an attempt to restrict the vice mayor's freedom of expression.
"We don't look at political color, personality," the NBI chief said. "We just base it on action, facts, and what law is applicable. You can promote your political preference, but you don't encourage people to raise arms against the government."
A familiar legal tool
The complaint against Respicio adds to a growing list of inciting-to-sedition cases filed under the Marcos administration.
Retired Air Force Gen. Romeo Poquiz, a lead organizer of anti-Marcos rallies seen as friendly to the Duterte camp, was arrested in January over an inciting-to-sedition warrant.
Rep. Kiko Barzaga (Cavite, 4th District), also a Duterte ally, has faced the same charge after publicly calling for Marcos's removal, a statement Malacañang said amounted to inciting sedition.
The National Union of People's Lawyers has warned that the administration's expanding use of sedition statutes risks chilling protected political speech. Responding in November to Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla's remarks that ouster calls against Marcos were "close to inciting sedition," the group said warnings of possible inciting-to-sedition cases showed the government's "intent to further chill dissent" rather than address people's legitimate grievances.
Both sedition and rebellion are Revised Penal Code offenses dating to the American colonial period.
The Duterte administration similarly used inciting-to-sedition charges against its perceived opponents and critics.
