This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 8, March 26-April 1, 2006
Baguio Journalists Sign Court of Appeals Petition for Press Freedom
Thirteen community journalists and four media organizations from Baguio City are
the latest signatories to a petition filed in the Court of Appeals which seeks
to stop government agencies from muzzling the press.
BY
ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
BAGUIO CITY (246 kms from Manila) – For Baguio-based journalists, distance is
never a factor in supporting worthy causes.
Thirteen journalists and four media organizations here affixed their signatures
last March 20 as co-petitioners in the case filed at the Court of Appeals (CA)
prohibiting selected government agencies from muzzling the press through
“content-based prior restraint.” Stressing that they are just the first batch of
signatories, they hope that their initiative will snowball so that other
journalists will know the importance of the petition.
The
13 signatories were Artemio Dumlao (Philippine Star); Tom Picaña (Manila
Times); Kathleen Okubo (Baguio Midland Courier); Robert Tabay (DZEQ);
Malou Guieb (Business Mirror); Maria Elena Catajan and Nick Canilao (Malaya
and Zigzag Weekly); Art Allad-Iw and Lyn Ramo (Northern Dispatch);
and Angelica Campo, Erwilyn Lei Solito, Ryan Manzano, Daniel dela Cruz (College
Editors Guild of the Philippines or CEGP).
Four media organizations also signed the petition, namely the National Union of
Journalists of the Philippines-Baguio-Benguet chapter (NUJP-BB), Philippine
Press Photographers Club-Baguio Benguet, Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters
Club and CEGP.
The
signing happened at the office of human rights lawyer Pablito Sanidad, chair of
the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG).
The
CA petition was filed last March 8 by eight media organizations, the University
of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) and 37 journalists and
journalism educators. It seeks to prohibit the Executive Secretary, Department
of Justice (DOJ), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC) from imposing any content-based prior
restraint on media.
Though there is no reported suppression yet by government agencies against the
media here, the Baguio-based co-petitioners claimed that the PNP, DOJ and NTC
continue to impose content-based prior restraint despite Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s
lifting of Proclamation No. 1017.
Violating media rights
Sanidad said that the CA petition is very important to journalists outside Metro
Manila as they are more vulnerable to harassment and intimidation since they are
less organized.
Noting the difference with the one filed at the Supreme Court questioning
Proclamation No. 1017, the CA petition focuses on the constitutional rights of
media practitioners and the threat on their role in bringing out information the
public needs. He cited the PNP’s move to raid the office of The Daily Tribune
and the monitoring of journalists and media organizations. “The Supreme Court
case is more on the legality of PP 1017 where the rights involved include
political rights like the warrantless arrest, banning of marches, etc.”
While PP 1017 was already lifted, Sanidad stressed that there still exists a
“creeping kind of authoritarianism measure. It is calibrated to intimidate which
has the same effect – the denial of press freedom.”
Campaign
Not
confining themselves to the legal struggle, the signatories will adopt other
means of protest to show their unity against creeping authoritarianism, said
Dumlao, chairperson of the Baguio-Benguet’s National Union of Journalist of the
Philippines (NUJP). He urged other media practitioners
to also sign as co-petitioners. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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