49 thoughts on “Pooled Statement: A WANTON DISREGARD FOR PRESS FREEDOM”

1. Administrator says:

   September 26, 2006 at 9:13 am

   This statement is now ready to accept online signatories. Please use your full name as individuals or as organizations. We will verify each entry via private email before we include it in the roster of signatories. Please scroll down to the blank input box to enter and submit your name and comment. Thank you.
2. armando malay jr says:

   September 26, 2006 at 12:11 pm

   since when have spouses of philippine chiefs of state have such onion-skinned personalities… shameful…
3. allan m. mediante says:

   September 27, 2006 at 3:00 am

   I as Mindanao Trustee of PPI and as editor in chief of Mindanao Gold Star Daily also commit to our common struggle against repression of journalists
4. Erwin Oliva says:

   September 27, 2006 at 10:24 am

   The libel cases filed against several are clearly meant to scare media, thereby creating a chilling effect. This is sad in a country that has the freest media.
5. Mila D. Aguilar says:

   September 27, 2006 at 1:36 pm

   I’m not in media anymore; I’m but a poet. But I’d like to add my name to the list of signatories.
6. Ellen Tordesillas says:

   September 27, 2006 at 2:29 pm

   Please add the names of

   1. Yuko Takei (Freelance journalist, Tokyo)
   2.Vi Massart, Chief European Correspondent, The Philippine Star
7. Elina V. Ramo says:

   September 28, 2006 at 7:19 am

   So the First Gentleman my know, Atty. Pablito Sanidad says our libel law is just a copy of an outdated US law. It is obsolete and no longer relevant, he adds aduring a forum among Baguio Journalist.
   Why should we be cowed? Let us assert press freedom and the people’s right to know.
8. Remedios I. Rikken says:

   September 30, 2006 at 8:47 am

   It is about time we amend this outdate law.
9. Remedios I. Rikken says:

   September 30, 2006 at 8:47 am

   It is an honor to be part of this list.
10. college editors guild of the philippines says:

    October 1, 2006 at 7:20 am

    uphold press freedom! campus journalists are also victims of this harassment with the use of libel law!
11. Ning Santos says:

    October 1, 2006 at 12:32 pm

    you are a buch of hypocrites!!! I gave you three comments and you erased them because my comments do not agree with your preconcieved ideas. You are supporters of Liars adn Intimidators and Extortionists Tulfo Brothers!!!
12. Administrator says:

    October 2, 2006 at 2:16 am

    Dear Ning Santos:

    We are very sorry, but your three pending comments on the NUJP statement were inadvertently deleted.

    Everyday, the Nordis blog receives dozens of spam messages from all over the world peddling all kinds of online commerce that we don’t need. They all fall into a common “pending approval” category, together with valid comments by our readers.

    So we have to clean up this “pending approval” area everyday, delete all spam and approve genuine readers’ comments, making sure to separate the grain from the chaff, so to speak.

    We have been deferring the approval of your three comments for several consecutive days. But last weekend, due to a glitch in our blog software, one of our staff unintentionally thrashed your three pending comments together with the dozens of accumulated spam messages, and we are no longer able to retrieve them.

    We are truly very sorry. It was an accident, and does not imply that we have finally disapproved your comments. We would have wanted to keep them on file, even if “deferred for later action.” We are still studying the series of emails that we received from you over the weekend.

    We have heard much negative information about the Tulfo brothers, and as we said, we are in no position to make judgments on them. The NUJP pooled statement is a call to drop or at least decriminalize the libel law, and (as far as we understand the NUJP position) does not intend to clear the Tulfos of any wrongdoing or journalist malpractice they might have done. If you have the goods on the Tulfos, we hope you can mobilize all the resources at your disposal to pin them down in court.

    We still think your references to presidential adultery and the penis size of the presidential spouse are on the dangerous edge of unprincipled slander and should not be given a place in our blog. We were trying to find a way to save your interesting comments about the libel issue, without being sucked into controversies that we have no inkling about.

    Please accept our apologies, and rest assured that your future comments would be seriously considered for posting so long as they do not unnecessarily push Nordis into a boiling cauldron, since the heat all around us is already suffocating as it is.

    Our best regards,
    Jun Verzola
    for the Nordis web team
13. Ning Santos says:

    October 2, 2006 at 3:47 am

    Most of the The 43 persons named in the libel suit will surely be dropped. I am not an apologist for the First Gentleman but more than 30 years ago as a columnist of the Manila Bulletin, I was sued for libel by Carlos Moran Sison. I remember Hans Menzi, Mariano B. Quimson, M.M. delos Reyes, Felix Gonzales and Ben Rodriguez and I were all lined up at a Pasig City court to face the charges in March 1970. Over a year afterwards, in October 1971,the judge announced that the fiscal, with the approval of the complainant Carlos Moran Sison, removed all the above named gentleman, leaving only me to face the music. Because I am a true macho unlike the Tulfo brothers who are now being supported by over 300 Filipino Journalists, I fought all the way to the Supreme Court.

    The First Gentleman is a brilliant lawyer. I am not an apologist of FG but I believe that as the cases progress, he will drop many of those over 40 named in the complaint.

    It is wrong for the supporters of the Tulfo Brothers to say that the FG can cow the Philippine media. Only the advertisers can cow the Philippine media. Despite the many lies of Ramon Tulfo I pointed out in my books and in many letters to the Inquirer, the paper still coddle, embrace Super, Super Liar Ramon Tulfo. Who says any one can cow the Philippine Daily Inquirer? Probably big advertisers like Lucio Tan and Danding Conjuanco but not the FG!!!

    The Tulfo Brothers who are in tri-media DARED ALL THOSE THEY MALIGNED TO FIGHT THEM IN MEDIA OR IN THE COURTS. Now that someone is bringing them to court, they ran like crying babies to their colleagues in local and foreign media.

    Many among those over 40 named in the suits do not like the lies of the Tulfo Brothers. Why do not they say so to the FG, or are they afraid of the Tulfo Brothers like the previous leadership of theNational Press Club (time of Tony Antonio)from whom I tried to get support for the libel charge filed against me by the Tulfos in Isabela.

    Yes, 99.999999% of Philippine media are scared of the TULFOS . Among those whom I PERSONALLY asked to mention even JUST the title of my book, “Liars, Intimidators and Extortionists in Philippine Media” and “The PRESIDENT and Her MEN KISS the ASS of RAMON TULFO” are Jarius Bondoc and Randy David. I do not know if they are also scared of the Tulfos why they failed to accede to my VERY SIMPLE request.
14. Ning Santos says:

    October 2, 2006 at 9:57 pm

    I have met many Bobo Journalists in my life, as Bobos (if not more)as the Liars Extortionsts Ramon, Raffy and Erwin Tulfo. The First Two Sentences of NUJP above shows that it must have been written by a Bobo NUJP official. The second sentence (which is a conclusion) is what we call in elementry logic as “non sequitur.” When you make a “non sequitur” conclusion, it is conclusively a sign of being Bobo.

    The charges filed by the First Gentleman do not betray a “wanton disregard for freedom of the press and the propensity to use power and influence to silence critics.”

    If you watched and listened to the Press Conferences and TV appearances of the Tulfo Brothers after the cases were filed, they still uttered libelous statements against the First Gentleman. I remember the interviewer cautioning one of them them with “don’t you think that statement you just uttered will invite a libel suit against the station?”

    NUJP and the supporters of Liars Bobos Extortionists Ramon, Raffy and Erwin Tulfo should NOT MAKE THE HASTY CONCLUSION that the FG IS OUT TO SILENCE CRITICS. They should watch his next moves after filing the cases. If he makes even just the semblance of silencing his critics, the NUJP and the supporters of Liars, Intimidators and Extortionists Ramon, Raffy and Erwin Tulfo can go to town denouncing the FG.

    Hey, you NUJP and Tulfo supportrers, do you know that RAFFY TULFO HAD TO MAKE SEVERAL LIES SO HE COULD SUE ME FOR LIBEL IN FAR AWAY ISABELA? AND THEN WHEN THE JUDGE DISMISSED THE CASE, DO YOU KNOW THAT THEY USED THEIR POLITICL POWER IN ISABELA SO THAT THE FISCAL Would ACCEPT THE FACTS OF THE SAME DISMISSED CASE AGAINST ME FOR A NEW Libel CASE SO THAT ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE TRIAL OF THE NEW CASE, THE JUDGED ASKED ME “IS THIS NOT THE CASE I DISMISSED JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO?” This shows how poerful the Tulfos are in Isabela, they are able to twist the arms of the Fiscal and the Judge there to sue me twice, or to sue ma again for libel, using the same facts of the case just dismissed, prompting the judge to ask in the new case “Is this not the case I dismissed just a few months back?

    The Tulfo Brothers are Liars, Intimidators and Extortionists!!! You there at NUJP should not be fooled by them!!! Otherwise you are as Bobo as they are Super, Super Bobos!!!

    When I tried to ask support from the National Press Club for the libel charge against me by LIAR BOBO TRI-MEDIA MAN RAFFY TULFO, the NPC President Prevented me from airing the libel case in the halls of NPC.

    Truly, not only NUJP but also the National Press Club, especially those who exhibit Boboness similar to those of the Tulfo Brothers, support Ramon, Raffy and Erwin Tulfo who, the newspapers say, were charge by the National Bureau of INvestigation with Massive Extrotion and Robbery at the Bureau of Customs.
15. Rolando B. Tolentino, University of the Philippines Film Institute says:

    October 3, 2006 at 10:27 am

    add me to the list of signatories
16. Joey Garcia says:

    October 3, 2006 at 2:39 pm

    I dont think anybody can breached the tenets of a country’s Constitution, more particularly the Freedom of the Press. A copy cat statute can be energized because of the Bush-Arroyo tandem that are breaching their own constitution but also in sovereign countries.
    Are we beggars to the United States?
    Shame for the Arroyo’s and the people that hails GMA as the chief. Shame on all generals who are begetting sums of monies from the people of the Philippines. Shame on the Lying Congress. Shame on all businesses who are members of the Arroyo Destabilization Movement.
17. Ning Santos says:

    October 3, 2006 at 11:07 pm

    Dear Jun Verzola,

    Please remove message number 11 where I called you a bunch of hypocrites. You are machos after all facing the music. But I do not take back my judgment that the NUJP statement has “non-sequiturs. In fact I am now drafteng a letter which I will send directly to NUJP pointing out the glaring “non sequiturs” in their statement. Had the crafters of the statement been students of where I came from, they would get a grade of zero if they submit that statement in our class of elemantery logic.

    Thanks again for being machos there!!!
18. greg widen says:

    October 4, 2006 at 12:23 am

    This is pathetic. Libel law is the only ammunition that the ordinary people could have against an abusive press. Press people have gone amuck, using the power of the pen to malign people, blackmail them under the guise of press freedom. If you remove the law, who will protect the people from these abusive journalists. Come on! You are the same people who malign doctors (pushing for the malpractice law)and now you want to wash your hands over the malpractice done by your own people. You are all sick!!! Shame on you and your family. If these comment doesn’t get published, then you are all a bunch of hypocrites.
19. bing llana says:

    October 4, 2006 at 12:43 am

    Not too fast Ms. Ning Santos, not that percentage are afraid of the Tulos err, Tulfos…..But you’re analysis serves right, Ms. Santos….. you hit them right on their freakin’ heads!….The Tulfo bros. have been lording it over for so long coz our colleagues (journalists?) are 99.99999% afraid of them…it’s payback time, let them feel the pain of being oppressed, and of being maligned with their lies….the bad karma of mon tulfo is coming soonest……
20. Dave Estrella says:

    October 4, 2006 at 1:15 am

    I wish Filipino Journalists will be responsible enough. I believe in the the rights of the Press, but I hope the Media will find that ordinary Filipino people have their own right as well. The very reason why Philippine economy is (should I say was?) crippling is because of the abusive Philippine Press Freedom. I just can’t figure out why Senator Drillon being trapped in an elevator is published in Philippine Star? Or even the blackout at the NAIA. They should have been in North America two years ago when no one can fly in and out of Toronto and other North American Airports for few days because of the Blackout. The thing is that we often criticize our own when in fact we are not worst after all. Did someone said New York City is as dirty as Quiapo? We often praise Singapore because it is clean, did someone said there are garbage plying around the outskirts especially near Malaysia? We say corruption in the Philippines is the worst in Asia, did anyone reported the Ordinary Police Officer in Kuala Lumpur extorting the Foreign Workers? How I wish that we find solution instead of creating a fictitous problem…. How I wish Philippine Media will be responsible enough. God bless the Philippines.
21. mario mallari says:

    October 4, 2006 at 3:52 am

    i am one with you in the crusade against attacks versus press freedom, u can add me to the list of signatories. i am reporter on-leave of the The Daily Tribune presently in jakarta
22. bing llana says:

    October 4, 2006 at 4:58 am

    maybe it’s not really wanton disregard of press freedom, but it’s just that some exercise wanton abuse of their press freedom and later on doesn’t accept responsibility for their actions,,,kala kc ng iba porke may press id pwede ng tumira at umatake kahit sino…tsk, tsk, tsk…i know of some orig na ACDC mediamen….dami nyang alaga sa npc under luga….teka muna nga pala admin, ano ba itong blog mo, labanan ng talino, hao-hsiaw or pasiklaban lang ng mga magagaling umingles? ok,, by the way… am an aspiring writer on-leave-for life of the daily tribute presently hibernating in the mountains of kabul….for some time in my ‘newspaper career’, i was a regular free-lunch journalist also in press conferences, including that of the attempt to federalize the republic….i voted that the country be made part of the u.s. though we can’t rely on having snow……til then buddies,
    tequila boy
23. bing llana says:

    October 4, 2006 at 5:03 am

    heavy si dave…well travelled and well informed…but u miss the shoe-sniffing incident sa lax airport kay sen. drilon….what the f…is the name of that shoes again?
    tequila boy
24. bing llana says:

    October 4, 2006 at 5:14 am

    dont worry greg, they’ll publish it..especially now that ur really mad….problem is that it sounds the same as ning’s bunch or buch or whatever… sounds also like lunch, brunch or grunch…just tell the admin that ur from the north or else the trash button is on his side….is this for northerners only? he he he!….nice job admin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    tequila boy
25. steve says:

    October 4, 2006 at 6:43 am

    what are the charges against the 43 journalists? baka naman they really did go beyond their limits. i love our democracy and freedom to express our thoughts/opinions. but as the law says, there’s a limit. and there should be a limit. as media can influence/affect/trigger its readers/viewers/listeners to either good or bad things. libel law should still be there.

    i still believe in our system. and i dun want to be dictated by the media. you should be mindful of your words. regulate your fellow journalists. and stop ranting about the system. there are just some things not meant to be published. it is called DAMAGE CONTROL. if it serves our country (like it does to singapore and other countries), then i’m all for it. okok?
26. Administrator says:

    October 4, 2006 at 6:47 am

    Since this blog isn’t exactly designed for quick tit-for-tat discussions (as would be the case in an e-group or online board), I’ll try to post here a catchall reply to the points raised in comments #16-23:

    * For now, this blog follows only the sparest criteria for managing posts and comments. E-commerce spam and smut are definitely out. If we feel that a piece contains outright, baseless slander, then we either delete it, or defer it until we find some saving grace, or some overriding reason to publish it and be damned. Otherwise, it gets published after a short stint in our “holding area.”

    * So far, we have only resorted to putting all comments on hold for less than a day, to allow us a small window of decision-making in deciding whether a piece is mere spam and smut disguised as comment, and thus fit for the trashcan, or not. If not, either we allow it to be shown, or if we have doubts, defer our action for a day or two while we check with our legal counsels.

    * The Nordis staff have carabao skins and iron stomachs. If the verbal attacks are directed at us, no problem. As the saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones…” These days, it seems the words should be “M16s and 9mm’s may splatter my brains…” We are much more careful if the attacks are directed at others, especially individuals and groups who don’t have easy access and capacity to reply back.

    * So far, once we allow a comment to be published in this blog, our practice is that it stays there, warts and all. Since this blog began, we have not intentionally deleted any reader’s comment, only some test comments from our own staff and a few spam in our early months. The closest we’ve come to interfering with what our readers have posted is editing out some typo or grammatical errors at their request. But we can’t do this often because it’s too time-consuming for us.

    * So, Ning (Santos), I suggest we let your comment #11 stay there for a while. If after a few days you find it too embarrassing to look at, then we’ll finally delete it. In any case, you now say we are macho after all. Masaya na kami dun…

    * Bing (Llana), ang Nordis ay may patakarang multilingual, kaya hinihikayat talaga ang pag-post sa Tagalog, Ilokano atbp. Syempre, gusto naming bigyang-halaga ang boses ng mga taga-Northern Luzon, pero kita mo naman, maski taga-NCR, o taga-ibang bansa, e bukas na magsulat dito.

    Finally, I’d like to invite all of you here to try out the Nordis Online Forum at http://www.nordis.net/forum which you may find more convenient for pursuing the friendly jousts that we’ve started here.
27. steve says:

    October 4, 2006 at 6:47 am

    this is cool. my comment is “waiting for moderation”… so why can’t the government do the same thing to your writings ha? ha? HA?
    hahaha…
28. Administrator says:

    October 4, 2006 at 6:53 am

    Steve, please read comment #12 for a quick explanation why we need to moderate comments in this blog.
29. Administrator says:

    October 4, 2006 at 7:07 am

    This is a rejoinder from NUJP Chairperson Jose Torres Jr., which NUJP Sec-Gen Rowena Carranza-Paraan asked me to post here, maybe since their organization’s website seems to be down:

    * “NUJP’s concern is the decriminalization of libel and the use of libel to stifle press freedom in the country. We are not here out to fight on behalf of the Tulfo brothers or, as our statement clearly says, we are not out to judge the merits of the case filed by Mr. Arroyo. Ning Santos should sign our statement and be with us in the fight against the use of libel to intimidate or harass people so that people like the Tulfos cannot threaten or sue him for libel in whatever distance province.”
30. Administrator says:

    October 4, 2006 at 8:18 am

    We’ve created a specific forum on Nordis Online, entitled “Media and the Law.” Interested readers may want to pursue there the issues revolving around the NUJP pooled statement against the abuse of the libel law. The forum is not moderated, although one needs to register first as a user before one gets posting and voting privileges. The URL is:

    http://www.nordis.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6#6
31. JOENALD MEDINA RAYOS says:

    October 4, 2006 at 10:40 am

    Please add my name in the list:

    JOENALD MEDINA RAYOS, President-Batangas Press Club, Editor-in-Chief – Dyaryo VERITAS)

    thanks,
32. bing llana says:

    October 4, 2006 at 4:04 pm

    we may not be aware of it but, for decades this libel law has been abused…so anong bago? maybe it’s about time we see somebody spends time behind bars….especially those so-called fearless brothers, ugh!….bear in mind kapatid sa hanapbuhay, lahat ng kagaguhan mo sa mundo babalik sa iyo in the end!… not at all times ay lucky ka, hane?…so, suppression of press freedom?..i don’t think we have been restricted that much….your humble contributor himself had been a recipient of a couple of libel charges before, luckily i got off the hook…kaya next time around, the name of the game really is responsibility!!!!!that’s why they haul you for libel…kc lie…..bel. whatever…hik!
    tequilang lokal
33. francis malasig says:

    October 23, 2006 at 11:46 am

    paki add: francis malasig – photojournalist ng abante.
34. Ning Santos says:

    October 26, 2006 at 2:53 pm

    Korina, Why Do MEDIA FEAR the TULFOS???!!!

    October 24, 2006

    Ms. KORINA SANCHEZ
    Global and Local Chief Correspondent-News Operations
    ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation
    Mother Ignacia Avenue
    Quezon City

    Dear Miss KORINA SANCHEZ,

    You are one of the most intelligent woman in media, particularly as a TV anchor-commentator, in fact much, much more intelligent than some of your colleagues in the profession who have reached dizzying heights in the political arena.. You have a quick mind and you know the precise questions to ask the leading experts you interview to draw out the best answers to educate your audience.

    Because I consider you one of the most if not the most intelligent TV Anchor, Host and Commentator in the Philippines, I wrote you twice requesting your help Solve a VERY STRANGE PUZZLE, the SOLUTION of which YOU as a Media PROFESSIONAL would be MOST INTERESTED to be able to UNRAVEL: HOW COME, despite having been PROVEN that the TULFO Brothers are LIARS, INTIMIDATORS, BLACKMAILERS and EXTORTIONISTS, the Philippine??™s Leading Media Organizations like the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Philippine Journalists, Inc. and some radio and TV Networks STILL CONSIDER THEM PRIZED COLUMNISTS and radio-TV hosts-commentators-broadcasters?

    For over three decades, I got acquainted and talked with scores of media professionals, and I find ALL of them without exception to be naturally curious, insatiable in their quest to know everything under the sun, that is why I find it most strange that you would tell me to stop sending you emails about the Lies, Intimidations and Extortions of the TULFO Brothers.

    I asked several close friends who truly admire your intelligence and they gave me probable reasons for your expressed desire to be ignorant about the Lies and Extortions of the sons of Satan TULFO Brothers. Among the probable reasons they advanced are:

    First, like most media professionals and columnists, you are scared of the TULFOS. You are scared that Ramon, Raffy and Erwin (and probably including Ben) might unleash their Tri-media power against you (if you offend them) as they have done against many very rich businessmen (for extortion purposes) and very powerful government people (the reason why I changed the title of my first book from ???Liars, Intimidators and Extortionists in Philippine Media to ???The PRESIDENT and Her MEN KISS the ASS of RAMON TULFO.???)

    It will surely interest you to know, Korina, —na hindi ka nag-iisa, that you are not alone—among those scared of the TULFOS, that I approached several very intelligent and ???very brave??? columnists and requested them just to mention in their columns even just the title of my book. Not one was brave enough to accommodate my very simple request, because They ALL are AFRAID of the TULFOS!!! One very intelligent university professor columnist emailed me his reasons for refusing even just to mention in his column the title of my book. In his effort to maintain a very brave front to hide his fear of the TULFOS, he replied with many ???non sequiturs,??? similar to the confusion exhibited by very intelligent people who try to hide their lies, vainly. The very intelligent ones are very transparent when they lie. No one is intelligent enough to be able to hide lies!!!.

    My friends gave other reasons to explain why you refused to know more about the TULFO Lies, etc. but I will not enumerate them here any longer. Suffice it to say that what they told me explain why 99.99999%+ of All Philippine Professional Media Men and Women Do Not Want to be Involved in any Public Discussion of the Lies, Intimidations and Extortions of the TULFO Brothers and why they (the TULFOS) are still Very Active in Media.

    If even the owners and very intelligent editors of the country??™s reputed Number One National Daily, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, chose to be Blind to the Lies and Extortions of RAMON TULFO, why should an individual media man or woman (like very intelligent Korina Sanchez) who surely would not win in any MEDIA WAR against the Four TULFOS Brothers (scattered in many TRI-Media Organizations in the Philippines) risk his/her neck and lifetime profession?.

    For over FOUR YEARS already I ALONE campaigned against the LIES and EXTORTIONS of the TULFO Brothers. I sought the assistance of media friends, including the Officers of the National Press Club (NPC) of the Philippines, etc. Not one of them was brave enough to be my comrade.

    I got the ire of the TULFOS. They and their cohorts sent death threats against me and my wife and hundreds of obscene text messages.. They sued me for libel (worthy of GUINNESS under the Category: Four Liar Brothers Very Powerful in TRI-MEDIA, suing for Libel a layman who dared TELL the TRUTH about their LIES!!!) in Far Away ISABELA where I have to travel over 500 kilometers every time I attend court hearings. One morning, I appeared early at the Court, only to be told that there would be no hearings as the TULFOS, at the last minute, asked for postponement. I consider traveling 500 kilometers a small price to pay for unmasking to the Filipino People the Liars, Intimidators and Extortionists in Philippine Media led by the TULFO Brothers.

    Your email to me expressing your choice to be ignorant of the Lies and Extortions of the TULFO Brothers should strongly convince me that it is futile and inutile to seek the help of media to solve the PUZZLE:

    Why MEDIA FEAR the TULFOS???!!!

    Thank you.

    Ning Santos, email:ningsan@yahoo.com; celfon: 0917-5217243
35. Rimaliza Opi?±a says:

    October 31, 2006 at 7:38 am

    JOurnalists have the right to fight for the freedon of the press as enshrined in the Constitution
36. Rimaliza Opi?±a says:

    October 31, 2006 at 7:38 am

    JOurnalists have the right to fight for the freedon of the press as enshrined in the Constitution
37. Rimaliza Opi?±a says:

    October 31, 2006 at 7:38 am

    JOurnalists have the right to fight for the freedon of the press as enshrined in the Constitution
38. Rimaliza Opi?±a says:

    October 31, 2006 at 7:38 am

    JOurnalists have the right to fight for the freedon of the press as enshrined in the Constitution
39. Rimaliza Opi?±a says:

    October 31, 2006 at 7:38 am

    JOurnalists have the right to fight for the freedon of the press as enshrined in the Constitution
40. Atty Toto Causing says:

    November 13, 2006 at 11:42 am

    Dear colleagues,

    Here are a few reasons why libel should be decriminalized:

    1. It is unconstitutional. It violates Article 3, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines providing “no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of expression, of speech and of the press…”
    Criminal libel gives anybody a cause of action (a right to file a criminal complaint) to file a libel case. It is immaterial whether the complaint filed will succeed or not. The point here is that the filing of libel complaint interferes with the exercise of freedom of expression; instead of doing his commitment to the public a mediaman has to answer charges. It is a big possibility that a mediaman like Ramon Tulfo would find spending all his time defending himself instead of doing his right and duty to express.
    Moreover, the filing of a libel complaint alone brings chilling effect, hence it abridges the exercise of the freedom of expression.
    Adding to this, the kind of justice system we have allows fiscals to approve libel complaints for court trials, by just saying there was probable cause even if there was none. This is a discretion that adds abridgment.
    The trial for libel will also bring headache to the accused newsman. He might be technically barred from continuing his writings about the person who filed a criminal libel case for this may constitute a violation of the sub judice rule or contempt, another abridgment.

    2. Libel, by nature is a dispute between the libeled and the libeler. It therefore belongs rightly to the province of civil law — NOT of criminal law. Hence, it is best to leave the resolution of this dispute between the parties for it will only consume the time, money, resources, machineries and efforts of the government for matters that even lead to suppression of freedom and closed the doors of the marketplace of ideas.

    3. Criminal laws are made to punish acts because these acts are deemed an offense against the state. It cannot be stretched by any imagination how could libel offend the state. I dare say that even if all officials of the government and all the people of the country are libeled, the state shall stay alive, kicking and unaffected. Hence, it is illogical to say libel is a crime.

    4. Corruption in the Philippines is now in the highest level. Government campaigns, particularly that of the Ombudsman’s, has proved not effective to stop this greatest menace of governments. Certainly, there is no better way to fight corruption and end it once and for all than giving the mediamen the full freedom to write about the ills that has brought down Philippines from its pedestal during the early 20th century to the bottom in Asia today.

    5. Giving full freedom to expression will build our nation and government so strong. Without suppression of freedom, the public officials will always be kept in check, the voice of the dissents will ring out loud instead of being heard from the barrels of guns, the armed rebels will be encouraged to speak up and choose to lay down arms for they will find good avenues of spreading their ideologues.

    6. I would rather live under the regime of abuse of freedom of expression than an abuse of politicians.

    I hope have brought forth my message clear.

    Toto Causing, National Press Club and Alyansa ng Filipinong Mamahayag.
41. Sonora Ocampo ?…kerfeldt says:

    December 23, 2006 at 7:30 pm

    Please add my name to the list of signatories.
42. Sonora Ocampo ?…kerfeldt says:

    December 23, 2006 at 7:30 pm

    Please add my name to the list of signatories.
43. Sonora Ocampo ?…kerfeldt says:

    December 23, 2006 at 7:30 pm

    Please add my name to the list of signatories.
44. Sonora Ocampo ?…kerfeldt says:

    December 23, 2006 at 7:30 pm

    Please add my name to the list of signatories.
45. Sonora Ocampo ?…kerfeldt says:

    December 23, 2006 at 7:30 pm

    Please add my name to the list of signatories.
46. angelica buan says:

    September 13, 2007 at 7:13 pm

    Pls add me to the list of signatories
47. benedict bersamira says:

    November 21, 2007 at 11:06 am

    add me to the signatories…ipagtanggol ang karapatna ng mga mamahayag….
48. Immignakycync says:

    April 23, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    Hi,good site!
49. Jeepy Compio says:

    November 8, 2008 at 6:38 am

    A journalist have a duty to report in accurate form of reporting. Indeed, media is the powerful instrument for forming public opinion.

    –Jeepy Compio (Periodico Caraga columnist)

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