Thursday, July 03, 2008 Journalists to appeal class suit dismissal
MEDIA practitioners who were arrested while covering last year's standoff at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City said they are prepared to go to the higher courts and to the United Nations (UN) to seek a reversal of a lower court ruling junking their P10-million class suit against government officials and military and police officers.
"Definitely we will appeal to the higher courts the 'unjust' ruling of the Makati court. We will go to the Court of Appeals or we can file a motion for certiorari at the Supreme Court," said lawyer Harry Roque adding that they are also considering options outside the country.
Roque said aside from seeking a reversal of the ruling, they also consider filing a petition with the Geneva-based International Committee for the Protection of Human Rights of the UN.
"That's one of the options we are considering especially since the Philippines is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As a signatory to that covenant, it is incumbent upon the government to respect human rights and press freedom," he said.
But he stressed they will only go to the UN once all legal measures were exhausted adding that at present their focus is to seek a reversal of the ruling.
The lawyer added that exhausting legal remedies domestically is one of the requirements imposed before one can go to the UN or any international body.
Roque said what made the lower court ruling more damaging to press freedom is the fact that it gives the police the authority to bar any journalists from covering similar incidents by invoking the concept of "dangerous situation or crime scene."
"This is a localized version of Martial Law," he added.
But he cautioned the authorities against using the ruling to prevent the media from covering similar events adding that the decision is not "final and executory."
"The ruling of the lower court has no doctrinal effect meaning it is binding only to the parties thereto and even this is still appealable. The ruling has no jurisprudence since that is only reserved to decisions of the Supreme Court," he said.
At the same time, he warned the authorities they might face criminal charges such as coercion and illegal detention if they use the ruling to bar the media from coverage.
Roque is the lawyer for the 36 journalists and four media organizations, namely, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and Philippine Press Institute (PPI) against the officials led by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Sr. for "impinging on press freedom" and for their "continuing threats" against media practitioners.
Of the 36 journalists, five were actually arrested and "processed" at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. They were Ellen Tordesillas and Ashzel Hachero of the broadsheet Malaya, Deogracias of Japanese broadcast agency NHK, James Constantino-Galvez of Manila Times and Leah Flor of the Philippine Cable Television.
Other media organizations like the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) and South East Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) have joined their voices to the chorus of condemnation against the ruling.
"We do not agree with the decision. We will contest it all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. We view the court's decision as a minor setback that will not discourage us from seeking justice and ensuring that no such injustice shall ever again be committed by the police and security personnel," the NUJP said.
Aside from appealing the decision, NUJP secretary general Rowena Paraan said they are readying protests to denounce the ruling.
On the other hand, Vergel Santos, trustee of CMFR, said the ruling of Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC)-Branch 56 Judge Reynaldo Laigo gives signal to the authorities to arrest media practitioners who were just doing their job.
"The court signals to the authorities they may well do it again. In fact, the ruling declares the journalists criminally liable and therefore indictable. It is terrifying to imagine what can happen to practitioners in the provinces they are particularly vulnerable, as evidenced by the number of disappearances and killings among their ranks," Santos added.
Tordesillas said: "The ruling sends the biggest chill yet across the media profession, because it effectively kills a journalist's last chance at preserving its freedom - a freedom that it exercises not for itself, by the way, but as a constitutional watchdog on the powers that be, for all of society."
Laigo dismissed the class action suit citing lack of evidence.
He said the order of the authorities for all those inside the Manila Peninsula Hotel, including the plaintiffs-journalists, to vacate the hotel's premises were "lawful" considering the "dangerous situation" at the time.
The journalists filed the case saying they were arbitrarily arrested by the police without probable cause to believe they were committing or had committed an offense while covering the standoff between the Magdalo Group led by detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and government troops.
Furthermore, they said they were not formally charged nor informed of their rights by the authorities.
They also complained that after the incident, Gonzalez and other government officials threatened to arrest or charge any media practitioners who "ignore or interfere" in the conduct of police or military operations.
They said such threats have a "chilling effect" on the exercise of their rights accorded under the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. (AH/Sunnex)
