Pen journalists say fight has only started

by Ashzel Hachero

Journalists who were arrested last year for refusing to leave the Manila Peninsula Hotel during the Magdalo soldiers’ stand-off yesterday said they are prepared to appeal all the way to the United Nations the junking of their P10 million class suit against government officials.

“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,” lawyer Harry Roque said.

Roque said aside from seeking a reversal of the ruling, they are also considering a petition before 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 said they will go to the UN only after exhausting all legal measures.

Roque said the court ruling is damaging to press freedom because it allows the police to bar journalists from coverages by invoking the concept of “dangerous situation or crime scene.”

“This is a localized version of martial law,” he said.

Thirty-six journalists and four media organizations filed a case against officials led by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. for “impinging on press freedom” and “continuing threats” against media practitioners.

Media groups have condemned the ruling, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said it will hold protest actions.

Metro Manila police chief Geary Barias, during the weekly Fernandina Forum at Club Filipino in San Juan, said the police will use the decision as a guideline in similar events.

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‘Media case junking no excuse for abusive arrests’–lawyer

By Abigail Kwok, DJ Yap
INQUIRER.net, Philippine Daily Inquirer

The dismissal of the class suit filed by media against government and security officials should not be used to justify the “abusive” arrest of journalists, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs said on Wednesday.

The class suit, dismissed on June 20 by Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 56 Judge Reynaldo Laigo, stemmed from the arrest of journalists who opted to remain inside the Manila Peninsula Hotel, despite orders by police to leave, to cover its occupation by rebel soldiers who called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign last November 29.

It also asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order against authorities, who had threatened to arrest journalists again under similar circumstances.

“Sa mga pulis, walang binding effect ang ruling. Kung akala niyo pwede niyo ng arestuhin ang mga journalists, nagkakamali kayo. Kakasuhan namin kayo ng coercion at serious illegal detention bilang counter charges [To the police, the ruling has no effect. If you think you can start arresting journalists, you are wrong. We will file coercion and serious illegal detention counter-charges against you],” lawyer Harry Roque said.

Roque, who represents the journalists who sought P10 million in damages from government officials, said the ruling of Laigo would not have a bearing on the general exercise of press freedom.

The decision, he said, would apply only to those who filed the petition, but he stressed that the ruling was not yet final pending the exhaustion of all legal remedies,

He said the journalists and media organizations were still intent on appealing the decision all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary, and if that also failed, would bring it to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

At the same time, Roque claimed Laigo had “prejudged” the case when he ruled that the arrested journalists “disobeyed [the police] when they intentionally refused to leave the hotel premises for which an appropriate criminal charge…could have been initiated against them.”

Roque maintained that the ruling was wrong because no evidence had yet been submitted.

“Wala pang ebidensya, nag-desisyon na agad siya [There was no evidence yet he decided already] on the merits of the case when what he should have done is to rule on the extension of the TRO [temporary restraining order],” Roque said.

In his decision, Laigo dismissed the class suit against Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon Jr., National Capital Region Police Office Director Geary Barias, among others, for alleged violation of press freedom for the Peninsula arrests and Gonzales’ subsequent statement that journalists would be arrested should similar circumstances occur.

The court said the defendants were able to justify their decision to arrest the journalists who refused to heed the 3 p.m. deadline set by Barias, the ground commander at the time, to leave the hotel.

It also noted that nothing was wrong with Gonzalez’s warning.

“Upon thorough examination of the afore-quoted allegations of the complaint, the Court finds that the same do not constitute sufficient cause of action for damages against the defendants that warrants further prosecution of the instant case,” the decision said.

“To begin with, the right of the plaintiffs as members of the press as guaranteed under the Constitution was not violated and trampled upon by the respective acts of the defendants complained of,” it added.

But Roque said Laigo’s decision implied as that the police could “decide what the media should and should not cover” and might encourage “localized martial law.”

The judge’s ruling also branded the complainants as “criminals,” Roque said, when it called the complainants “lucky” to not have been arrested by the police.

One of the complainants in the case, Malaya columnist Ellen Tordesillas, said she was “worried” because they had no one to run to.

“Saan tayo pupunta? Hindi naman tayo pwede magsumbong sa pulis. So pupunta tayo sa korte. Pero sa ginawa ngayon ni Judge Laigo, saan na tayo pupunta [Where do we go? We cannot complaint to the police. So, we go the courts. But with what Judge Laigo did, where can we go now]?” she asked.

“This is not caprice,” she said. “Press freedom is not just the right of the reporter; it’s the right of the people. If the right to inform is gone, the people cannot possibly have the right to be informed.”

Business World columnist Vergel Santos called the ruling “methodical and conspiratorial” and the “ultimate suppression of basic freedom.”