The Press and the Law

The Press and the Law
Limited protection
By Don Gil K. Carreon

DOES THE Philippines have a strong legal framework to defend the press and its independence? Can the law provide adequate protection for the press against journalist killings, harassment such as the 11 libel suits filed by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo against 43 journalists, and other threats?

On Dec. 5, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility took up these issues during a roundtable discussion titled, “Limited Protection: Press Freedom and Philippine Law.”

Ismael Khan Jr., chief of the Supreme Court’s public information office, said despite the problems confronting the press in the Philippines, its freedoms have been upheld during the tenure of the last two chief justices.

Khan pointed to the decisions made by the high court when it ruled last June against the Arroyo administration’s use of the Armed Forces in the pursuit of people identified by the government as “terrorists” and the raid on the offices of The Daily Tribune during the  week-long state of emergency in February as evidence of the court’s respect for civil liberties.

Raul Pangalangan, former dean of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law, however, noted the segmented instruction of expressive liberties in Philippine law schools.  He said each subject in Law carries a disciplinal bias that contradicts the values taught in other subjects.

“For example, when you take up Criminal Law 1, you assume a prosecutorial mindset. In contrast, when you take up Constitutional Law 2, the typical professor would be a libertarian who takes up seriously the values of the Bill of Rights,” he said.

Strengthen institutions
Pangalangan said press freedom can be enhanced in the country by strengthening the institutions.

“We must defend journalists unfairly accused but at the same time, we must also work when libel laws do not work,” Pangalangan said.

He proposed a tie-up between CMFR and the Philippine Judicial Academy to develop a course for judges to orient them on the proper handling of press freedom cases.

UP journalism professor Luis V. Teodoro outlined the prevailing culture of impunity which explains why journalists in the country continue to be threatened and attacked.

Teodoro, a board member of CMFR and a columnist for the daily BusinessMirror, said the strength of the culture of impunity is based on a paradox rooted in the country’s weak justice system.

He added that the apathy of the community that journalists claim to serve also validates suspicions that the press’s own flaws have led to widespread skepticism.

“There do not seem to be enough press freedom advocates among lawyers to match the sheer number of journalist murders,”  Teodoro added.

To dismantle the culture of impunity, he proposed several measures such as the continued education of journalists to improve the quality of their work, media literacy programs to enhance community awareness of the role of the press in society, continued dialogue with the law community for assistance in press freedom protection, and press vigilance in holding the authorities to account.

Agreement with IBP
CMFR and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) signed a memorandum of agreement giving legal assistance to the families of slain journalists seeking justice, and to journalists who are being harassed for their work.

The agreement was signed by CMFR executive director Melinda Quintos de Jesus and IBP president Jose Vicente Salazar at the Filipinas Heritage Library.

The book, Limited Protection: Press Freedom and Philippine Law, was also launched on the same occasion.

De Jesus said the agreement is just the first step in what she hopes will be a sustained and collective effort by different groups to advance press freedom.

The agreement was initiated by the CMFR as a founding member of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, Inc. (FFFJ), which was organized in 2003. Other FFFJ members are the Center for Community Journalism and Development, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, the Philippine Press Institute, and the California-based newspaper Philippine News. CMFR serves as the secretariat of FFFJ.

Also introduced in the forum was CMFR’s planned project with the Southeast Asian Press Alliance to administer a program that aims to train lawyers in the region on press freedom defense.

The book and the agreement with the IBP are part of CMFR’s media and law program, which engages the legal community to discuss and promote the protection of journalists.

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