The provision
ARTICLE 360. Persons responsible. -Any person who shall publish, exhibit or cause the publication or exhibition of any defamation in writing or by similar means, shall be responsible for the same. The author or editor of a book or pamphlet, or the editor or business manager of a daily newspaper, magazine or serial publication, shall be responsible for the defamations contained therein to the same extent as if he were the author thereof. The criminal action and the civil action for damages in cases of written defamations, as provided in this chapter, may be filed simultaneously or separately with the Court of First Instance of the province wherein the libel was published, displayed or exhibited, regardless of the place where the same was written, printed or composed. No criminal action for defamation which consists in the imputation of a crime which cannot be prosecuted de oficio shall be brought except at the instance of and upon complaint expressly filed by the offended party.
Key points
Article 360 identifies the persons responsible for written defamation and governs where the case may be filed. Anyone who publishes, exhibits, or causes the publication or exhibition of a defamation in writing is responsible; authors, editors, and business managers of publications are responsible to the same extent as the author.
The article also provides that the criminal and civil actions for written defamation may be filed together or separately, and sets special venue rules for libel cases. Its venue and responsibility rules figure prominently in libel and cyberlibel litigation, and it is read with Articles 353–355.
Cases applying this article
- Wonina M. Bonifacio v. Regional Trial Court of Makati G.R. No. 184800