Phillipine cyber crime law - protection or control?

The new cybercrime law has come into effect in the Philippines. Overtly it is designed to protect people from cybersex, child pornography, identity theft and spamming. Which all sounds very noble. Except for the fact that those things could be policed in different ways. Pornography can be blocked by the state, spamming halted and identity protected legally. There seems to be something much larger at play here. The Philippine state is effectively taking away freedom of speech and the right to individual expression. I say this because the new law also includes a proviso for libel as a cybercrime punishable by up to 12 years in jail. No-one would advocate people hiding behind their twitter avatars and blog identities to hurl vitriol. At the same time however criticism of government in rational debate is a healthy thing and this may undermine that. Humour is always a great weapon in any political situation and social tyranny can be undermined by making the tyrannical appear ridiculous. Will this not stunt such possibilities. The Philippine government can be applauded for any attempt to stamp on legitimate cybercrime - cybersex and the rest, but they should not be this draconian to the point of strangling their own people's ability to express themselves through open criticism.