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Monday, February 27, 2006
Media groups criticize Arroyo for proclamation
By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
PARTICIPANTS to the First Visayas-Wide Media Summit held in Iloilo City over the weekend strongly denounced the police raid on the Daily Tribune in Manila early dawn on Feb. 25, including the confiscation of copies of the newspaper.
"We demand that the Arroyo government end all other acts and threats to curtail the exercise of Press Freedom and the People's Right to Know," their statement sent Sunday to Sun.Star read.
The participants called on their colleagues and all others, who cherish freedom and democracy, to oppose all moves by this administration and any other government agencies to curtail the rights and liberties the Filipinos have struggled so hard for.
They lamented that the raid against the Daily Tribune happened on the daybreak marking the very historic bloodless revolution or People Power 1 "when we have toppled a dictator and ended his long years of repressive rule."
"Nobody, not even Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has the right to stifle the basic rights to freedom of expression and access to information, especially not in these trying times," the statement also read.
It added that the group is reminding "her of the provisions of the Philippine Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that categorically guarantee the freedom of speech, of expression and of the press."
They also cited Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference, and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers."
The group also pointed to Section 4 Article III of the Philippine Constitution, which states that, "No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances."
(February 27, 2006 issue)
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