Thursday, February 21, 2008 Media expert confirms 'continuing threat' to press freedom
A FORMER dean of the University of Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication said there is a "continuing threat" to press freedom in the country brought by the spate of warnings and advisory issued by high ranking government officials.
During Wednesday's resumption of the hearing at the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) on the multimillion-peso class action suit filed by media practitioners arrested during last year's Manila Peninsula Hotel standoff, Dean Luis Teodoro, an expert witness for the plaintiffs, singled out the advisory issued by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. as the "most threatening" since he said it is specifically directed to the media.
"That advisory seems to single out the media as a single sector not the entire Philippine society. There is an implied threat that said "Hey watch out you may suffer the consequences if you do certain things," Teodoro told Makati RTC Branch 56 Judge Reynaldo Laigo.
He said Gonzalez's advisory threatening with arrest any media practitioners who obstruct military or police operations constitute "prior restraint" on the journalist's conduct of their duties and responsibilities.
"This advisory and the numerous statements of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the secretaries of defense, interior and local government and justice following the November 29 Peninsula incident constitute prior restraint in that they are likely to result in their softening of report or not reporting at all events similar to the Peninsula incident for fear of arrest and incarceration. These violate the Constitution which clearly prescribed press freedom and the right of the people to information," he said.
He added that the defendants in the case bring the full weight of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's prosecutorial, police and military power to bear on the plaintiffs in particular and to press freedom in general.
Aside from Gonzalez, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, PNP Chief Avelino Razon Jr., Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Geary Barias, PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Chief Asher Dolina and PNP-Special Action Force commander Leocadio Santiago.
Teodoro said the arrest, handcuffing and "processing" of 50 or so journalists during the November 29 standoff is "illegal" as he argued that, aside from violation of the Constitutional provision on press freedom, it was not even clear if the Manila Peninsula is a "crime scene" or not.
He said holding a press conference and calling for the President's resignation does not constitute a crime.
He likewise said "the standoff is a continuing story" and it is "not the police call to order journalists to leave the scene."
The question of whether the journalists violate a law when they insisted on covering the standoff despite the warning of Barias asking everyone to leave to prevent "collateral damage" constitute a violation, according to lawyer Harry Roque is at the core of the issue.
Teodoro asserted that the warnings is related to the broader concern regarding the condition in which Filipino journalists live in adding that killings and the filing of libel cases, even for "frivolous" ones are on the rise since 2001.
"The widespread killing of journalists has been on the rise since 1986 but more so since 2001 while the fear of being sued has intensified over the years," he said.
Records of the Committee to Protect Journalists showed that 32 reporters have been killed in 15 years between 1991 and 2006 and only 10 percent of the cases have been resolved.
The spate of killings led another media organization, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders to declare that "after Iraq, the Philippines is the most dangerous country for journalists."
Teodoro also cited the 46 libel cases filed by First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo against print and broadcast journalists as part of the wider pattern of harassment against the media adding that the court should consider the totality of the circumstances involved in the case.
Former UP College of Law dean Raul Pangalanan and Inday Varona of the National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP) are set to take the witness stand on February 26 before the complainants end their presentation of the case. (AH/Sunnex)
