Sotto’s Press Freedom Law

Don Vicente Yap Sotto became a publisher at the young age of 21. While tending to his newspaper, El Nacional, at his workstation, on September 16, 1899 he was accosted by two American constables. He was then brought to Fort San Pedro where he was detained for months.

The evidence against him for the crime of treason was the communication from General Arcadio Molero Maxilom (the Last Cebuano general to surrender to the Americans and the first Cebuano Governor of Cebu) asking him about the status of the war against the Americans.

In the first post-war election held on April 23, 1946, Sotto ran for the Senate and for the first time, won and held the title as the first Cebuano to have placed second in the Senatorial election of the now nationwide election (from 1916 to 1935, senators were elected by what was called the 12 senatorial districts, with every district electing its own two senators, except the 12th senatorial district where the senator was appointed by the American governor general). He was the only candidate who won under the Popular Front as all the winning candidates ran under the Nacionalista Party and its Liberal Wing (later Liberal Party).

On October 5, 1946, barely months after his election as Senator, Sotto authored the famous Republic Act 53, more known after him as the Sotto Law. The law is simple, it protects the reporter, editor, and publisher from revealing the source/s of his information. This law was not product of an imaginary theory or scenario it was borne out of experience and the wisdom of having such a law that will protect Philippine press freedom.

On August 30, 2019, through the efforts of his grandson and namesake, Senate President Vicente “Tito” C. Sotto III authored in the Senate, with Rep. Raul Chiong Veloso del Mar (Father of Cebu Press Freedom of the New Millennium) in the House of Representatives, the expanded the coverage of the law (broadcast and electronic mass media) under Republic Act 11458.

This October 5, 2021, it will be the 75th year of the passage of the Sotto Law. It is an opportune time for the members of the media to commemorate such an event. Cebu being the bastion of press freedom in the country, as it is the only place in the country that celebrates its own press freedom month, united and strong, it should be the Cebu press that will initiate and lead the way.

 God bless Cebu, long live the Cebuanos.