Here’s what happened in yesterday’s Edsa Shrine celebration: 1.GMA was a no-show 2. The flag got stuck halfway to the top during the flag-raising because…
Making life worth living.
Category: Media
by Evangeline de Vera
Voting 10-5, the Supreme Court yesterday struck down a warning issued by the Department of Justice and of the National Telecommunications Commission to radio and television stations against airing the alleged wiretapped conversations between President Arroyo and former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
The high tribunal said the warning, which carried the threat of cancellation of the license of the violator, constitutes prior restraint which infringes on the constitutionally protected freedom of the press.
This is a setback for us but this will not deter us from doing our job of bringing to the public the truth.
By Julie M. Aurelio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Makati City court Thursday denied a media petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) barring officials from arresting journalists during crisis situations such as last November’s standoff at the Manila Peninsula hotel.
Journalists from various news organizations filed last month separate petitions seeking to restrain the government from arresting or threatening journalists with arrest.
Col. Ariel Querubin was running a high fever this morning but Col. Arnulfo Marcos. commander of the Custodial Management Unit attempted to forcefully bring him to Camp Aguiinaldo to attend hearing. Take note of Querubin’s medal of valor beside him. When an officer wears his medal of Valor, even the President salutes him.
Col Orlando de leon shows his bruises from the scuffle with custodians who also wanted to forcibly being him to Camp Aguinaldo.
Court martial hearing for the 28 officers accused of mutiny in connection with the February 2006 alleged plan to withdraw support from Gloria Arroyo was again cancelled when the seven officers that got notice of hearing refused to attend unless the whole batch of 28 accused would participate in the hearings.
Tension ensued in Camp Capinpin in Tanay ( where four of the seven officers are detained) when custodians tried to forcibly bring the accused to Camp Aguinaldo where the hearing was held. In the end, the accused had their way. (I‘ll write more about this tomorrow. I’m tired!).
The detained officers issued the following statement:
Justice and due process
Sa mga reporter na gustong sumali sa dalawang demanda na isinampa noong isang araw para maprotektahan ang malayang pamamahayag, maari pa kayong sumali. Pwede pang ihabol ang inyong pangalan.
Dalawa ang isinampang kaso noong Lunes. Isa sa Supreme Court at isa sa Makati Regional Trial Court. Magkakaibang mga petitioners pero pareho ang pakay: pangangalagaan ang press freedom na nakasaad sa Constitution.
Isa lang ang pwedeng salian. Hindi pwedeng pumirma sa dalawa kung hindi mababale wala ang kaso dahil sa forum shopping.
PROBE TV Banta laban sa malayang pamamahayag: http://www.probetv.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f914b95a0fc33c3f33bf
Click here to my MediaMax file to read the full text of the two complaints. Titles are “media complaint filed with Makati RTC” and “Prohibition petition filed with SC” .
More than a hundred journalists and four media organizations today filed two separate suits against officials of the Arroyo administration including the Philippine National Police to be allowed to do their job of informing the people the truth about what is happening in the country.
In the first suit, filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court Court, the petitioners were immediately granted a temporary restraining order against the respondents “to refrain and desist from issuing threats of arrests or from implementing such threats againsts Plaintiffs and/or members of the media who are covering events similar to the Manila Pen standoff and ordering and maintaining the status quo ….until the issues presented inthis instant suit are resolved by teh Court.”
The second suit was filed before the Supreme Court.
PROBE TV Banta Laban sa malayang pamamahayag :
http://www.probetv.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f914b95a0fc33c3f33bf
The articulate secretary of the cabinet, Ricardo Saludo, has taken the Inquirer to task for allegedly “misreporting” on a statement he issued the other day and perpetrating “occasional but prominent distortions” in our headlines.
His original statement, one of several he issued on Jan. 24, dealt with the current vexed relationship between the police and media; it is short enough to reproduce in full: “The front pages and the airwaves are not the places to resolve the issue of safely covering conflict situations, and any allegations of civilian misconduct during the Manila Peninsula uprising. Both sides should discuss guidelines to ensure public safety in media coverage of dangerous events. And let due process, not trial by publicity, be applied to any evidence and charges of unlawful acts during the uprising.”
Update:PNP now in search of ‘Makapili’ among reporters
PNP admits it has no goods against lady reporter
Since when has a journalist interviewing a person involved in a situation a crime?
The RPN-9 video that was supposedly the PNP “smoking gun” to discredit media in connection with the Nov. 29 Manila Pen incident just showed Dana Batnag, reporter of Jiji Press, a Japanese news agency, talking with Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, who was one of the Magdalo officers who walked out of their hearing at the Makati Regional Trial Court, proceeded to the Manila Pen and called for the ouster of Gloria Arroyo’s illegitimate government.
There was nothing in the picture as described by no less than the justice secretary and the PNP chief that showed a “female reporter helping Capt Nicanor Faeldon escape by giving him a press ID.”
by Evangeline de Vera
The Supreme Court is set to come out before the weekend with an administrative circular wherein a judge in libel cases may rule for payment of a fine instead of imprisonment.
Chief Justice Reynato Puno yesterday said after inducting officers and members of the Financial Executives Institute that the circular will be an “interim measure.”
Puno said the circular should not be mistaken for a bill decriminalizing libel which is pending in Congress because the guidelines simply direct judges to prefer the payment of fines instead of imprisonment in case of a conviction.
Photo reproduced here without permission of The Inquirer. Sorry, JV.
Inquirer’s photo caption:PEN LOBBY. Is Dana Batnag interviewing Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon? Or, are they plotting his escape? Does this video constitute enough evidence to prosecute Dana? Is this all? RPN NEWS
Faeldon-reporter tape does not show much; PNP witch-hunt hit
By Alcuin Papa, Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer