The right to reply
WHEN a senator or representative delivers a libelous accusation against another person, he incurs no liability because of his parliamentary immunity for any speech or debate within the halls of Congress. The usual recourse of the supposed victim is to challenge his detractor to repeat his charges outside the legislature so they can be litigated before a court of justice.
If the solon does not respond, the public will conclude that his charges are true except that he does not have the evidence to prove them. That is in fact the reason for his parliamentary immunity. But if he decides to accept his target’s demand, he then allows himself, at his own risk, to be subject to judicial action. If he is unable to prove his accusations, he will then be liable for civil damages or imprisonment and/or fine; otherwise, he will have established the truth of his remarks.
Sen. Claro M. Recto successfully employed this device to remove a high government official during the administration of President Elpidio Quirino. Not that it would have done him any good, but that person did not have the facility offered by the right to reply bill recently passed by the Senate. President Macapagal-Arroyo has already threatened to veto it although it has not yet even been approved by Congress.
Under this bill, any person attacked by the media, through the press, television or radio, is given the right to reply, in the same medium and with equal prominence, to deny or explain his side. The purpose is to enable him to refute the effects of the accusation upon his name, good or bad. The trouble is that this opportunity would normally be barred at the present time, given the power of the press over easily cowed judges and the expenses and other inconveniences of litigation.
The result, it is argued, would leave the accusation unpunished and the reputation of the innocent subject tarnished for lack of denial or explanation. In many cases, the barrel of the gun is the final answer against the accusing journalist, who is presumed by the bill as biased and with an evil motive when in fact his only purpose was to expose the wrong and reveal the truth.
In my view, the presumption of the bill is that all adverse criticism of any person, especially public officials who are often the object of journalistic attacks, is per se untrue and motivated by evil designs. This is unfair. It debases freedom of expression itself that Justice Sutherland described as “one of the great interpreters between the government and the people. To allow it to be fettered is to fetter ourselves.”
The bill dishonors the great writers who came to be known during the French Revolution as the Fourth Estate for their powerful influence in opposing the decadent aristocracy. It is an insult to our own freedom of expression that sustained our struggles to be free with the fiery words of Rizal, Plaridel, Lopez Jaena, Jacinto, Mabini and other heroes of our race. They did not need a right to reply bill to moderate their courage against the foreign invaders.
It is true that there are so-called journalists in this noble profession who would pollute it with their tabloid career of blackmail and extortion. But they constitute only a small percentage of its worthy membership. The great majority of its practitioners are dedicated to the pursuit of truth as their only goal even at the risk of their safety and the cost of their lives. Their accusations serve as a useful warning to the public against the persons they criticize and their suspiciously illicit operations.
The press should be given its full measure of encouragement and freedom in the dissemination of “matters that touch the heart of the existing order.” If vital news is suppressed to accommodate a senseless defense from the offended party, this will intrude not only upon the media’s editorial policies but also on their property rights to the space they have to reserve for the required statutory reply. This may placate the private person’s ego but not the general public that paid for but will not receive the needed but excluded information.
There should always be a proper balance between private rights and the public interest. It is true that under the Bill of Rights, the lone individual should be regarded as a majority of one against the entire, united nation. But in the case before us, it is hard to sustain this questionable right against freedom of expression—“at once the instrument and the guaranty and the bright consummate flower of all liberty”—as a correct exercise of the police power of the State.
Fortunately, the proposal is still only a bill and has yet to be debated in the House of Representatives where it is likely to be scrutinized and rejected if only because it is the approved act of its traditional rival and frequent antagonist. Even if the measure should also pass there, there is still the final deliberation of the conference committee on the still unresolved differences between the two chambers that may yet kill the controversial measure.
And, yes, even if the bill should reach Malacañang, remember that President Arroyo has already announced she would veto it. The only hitch is that she also promised in 2003 that she would not run in the 2004 presidential election but did.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20090308-192922/The-right-to-reply
Other issues in ‘right of reply’
FROM A DISTANCE By Carmen N. Pedrosa Updated March 08, 2009 12:00 AM
All the talk on the right of reply is focused on its “attack on freedom of the press”. At first glance, it seems a conflict between politicians and journalists. But dig deeper, and you will find other issues. It is not black and white but with many colors.
Something is amiss. Just as important, if not more important, are different players like poorly paid journalists (one of the lowest in the region), the owners of the media (media oligarchs) in which they write and broadcast, and politicians aspiring for power and just as avaricious. It looks more like a mélange of interests elbowing for advantage.
They tell the same story of how democracy operates on the ground. It is certainly not black or white. Neither is it between freedom vs. responsibility of the press. It is my opinion that the debate on right of reply goes beyond all this. There are factors that may not be obvious to the naked eye or to the conformist mind but are as relevant, if not more relevant than the issue of freedom vs. responsibility of the press that others make it out to be.
Did the leaders of Congress have any choice but to back down from further discussing and approving the Right of Reply bill? If they did not they might have to swallow more than they bargained for. Better to stay on the side of “the prudence of conformity” than face the substantial problem at stake. It’s a cop-out.
* * *
Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia announced to media that the RORB has been overtaken by events. What events? “Congressmen don’t want to touch it, it’s now frozen.” See what I mean? There will be no plenary in the House even if the Senate has already approved the bill. By all means consult with media groups, that’s part of the democratic debate.
On the other hand Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the bill’s principal author, says he’s open to compromise to make it more acceptable to media. “It’s balancing the freedom of the press with the right of the people to defend themselves,” he said.
As for journalists carrying their protests in the streets. (Ok din yon! ) Whenever I have a chance I tell colleagues that in a trip to South Korea I asked journalists how much they were paid. I was told that their pay follows the rate in other industries. Maybe that is where members of media can focus their efforts — that they get better paid commensurate to their ability and the risks they take.
This perspective will reveal another player in this conflict of interests that has remain unscathed despite the damage it has caused to our country’s nation-building. That player is called big business with the money and clout to use media to advance or protect their interests.
Flawed media in the Philippines has not gone unnoticed by other countries in the region. Moreover irresponsible media, unlike corruption in government has escaped blame precisely because freedom of the press is invoked whenever it is called into question.
Yet few will deny that the same freedom of the press can be a licentious corporate tool and one of the reasons why the Philippines is unable to match the progress in other countries in the region. “Freedom of the press” covers a multitude of sins, one of them is how it has brought about a weak state in the Philippines.
Media oligarchs use “freedom of the press” to block reforms or worse attempt to bring down governments if these go against their interests. Big businesses look to owning a newspaper, radio or television as an advantage over their competitors.
I have often been asked by colleagues in other countries in the region why media in the Philippines is “too involved” in high level politics at the expense of community issues more relevant to the reading public.
* * *
Admittedly it is not just about ownership of media that often distorts responsible reporting. Deadlines and space restrictions, ideology, balance and impartiality, PR agencies — all interweave in media play in the Philippines. Guardians of the freedom of the press are loathe to admit that often the independent journalist has to maneuver through this shoals of difficulties just to be able to be published. Neither is the Philippines the only country with problems on the ownership of media.
It is true the world over that corporations rule over media. While there are intrepid investigative journalists, they are often limited to mega deals and profits that do not affect their owners.
The problem with flawed media is it restricts critical thinking. And it can be just as partisan as the politicians they deride.
Journalists like to think they have a sense of mission but are stopped by what a wise analyst called “relentless tabloidization”, meaning to give only the kind of journalism that sells.
As for time and space, some newsrooms are filled with young, inexperienced journalists without backgrounds on the articles they write, with no time to read yet to obliged to multitask and meet merciless deadlines. They work 12 or 14 hours a day for meager salaries. Do you wonder why the envelope is hard to refuse even with the best of intentions?
I remember that while on exile in London, I read about a unique newspaper that did not oblige their correspondents to send stories every day. They had to absorb the essence of the society of the country in which they were assigned, live it and know the people that inhabit it. That way when a newsworthy event breaks out, they will report accurately and wisely.
As to balance and impartiality these have been thrown out of the window. For example, the reading public has come to accept it is difficult to find media reports on anything good about the Arroyo administration. It has long been demonized and therefore cannot do good and this with the help of surveys calculated to promote hatred against it. All this, and the campaign for 2010 has not even formally begun.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=446547&publicationSubCategoryId=64
Back to Bataan? (1)
(First of two parts)
From time to time, we hear about attempts to rehabilitate and finally use the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. We also continue to hear reports that the end of the world is at hand, but that has happened yet, either.
Why some people insist upon trying to revive the BNPP instead of, say, putting up a new nuclear power plant from scratch somewhere else remains a mystery. Perhaps, to end this three-decade fixation on a plant that never produced a single watt of electricity despite the billions spent to build and pay for it, the government should just dismantle the facility immediately.
This is not a treatise against the use of nuclear energy to produce electricity. On the contrary, given our continued dependence on imported petroleum for our energy needs, any effort by the government to wean us from foreign oil and to add new power sources to our financially and environmentally unhealthy supply mix should be encouraged.
Any effort, that is, except the one to revive the BNPP. Given the money-sucking history of the Bataan plant—to say nothing of safety concerns because of its dangerous location, outdated technology and suspect structural integrity—even studies on its rehabilitation and use like the ones now being proposed in Congress should be discouraged as a waste of time, scarce resources and, yes, energy.
Indeed, the world over, nuclear energy is once again enjoying a revival. Thanks to the unpredictability of petroleum prices, the environmental dangers posed by burning oil and the dwindling of underground reserves, many countries have rediscovered nuclear power and are racing to build new power plants that use the fuel that once made Three Mile Island and Chernobyl household names.
In Asia, China is building eight new nuclear power plants with a combined output of 7,300 megawatts, while India is adding 2,700 MW to its mix by putting up five nuclear plants. Vietnam and Indonesia plan to add 4,000 MW each using new nuclear plants by 2020.
In a complete turnaround from its former environmentally incorrect image, nuclear power is now also being bandied about as the solution to global warming. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that 32 new nuclear power plants have to be built each year from now until 2050 to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half.
The key word—for the Philippines, at least—is “new.” And the BNPP is so old and very likely so obsolete that it could be compared to using a 50-year-old car to compete on a contemporary racetrack: an exercise that is costly, inefficient, dangerous and ultimately idiotic.
* * *
The latest proposal to revive the BNPP comes from Congress, where a bill to fund studies on the mothballed plant is undergoing deliberations. The proposed law authored by Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco seeks government funding for “complete technical, economic, environmental, and financial feasibility studies for electricity generation” using the plant.
Prior to that, in the teeth of last year’s upward spiraling of world oil prices, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes proposed allocating $800 million to put the 621-MW plant onstream, purportedly upon the recommendation of the IAEA. Then world oil prices plunged, and nothing further was heard about Reyes’ proposal.
True, the current Congress proposal seeks a mere P10 million for the creation of a task force that will conduct a feasibility study on the plant’s rehabilitation and use. Furthermore, Cojuangco said his bill institutes a “validation process” that will either affirm or reject the soundness of rehabilitating and using the mothballed plant, with a provision that the BNPP be immediately demolished should the validation show adverse findings.
Still, it’s not as if the viability of using the Bataan plant hasn’t been studied—and basically recommended for dismantling—before. And it definitely isn’t the first time that good money has been attempted to be thrown after all the bad that was sunk into the BNPP, which has entered the history books as the biggest single debt incurred by the Philippine government.
During a hearing on the Cojuangco proposal before the House appropriations committee, a former top consultant on the BNPP, Nicanor Perlas, disclosed that the Aquino administration commissioned a $9.5-million study conducted by 50 nuclear experts from different parts of the world which discovered that the plant had 40,000 defects. Perlas, a former technical consultant to both the Senate ad hoc committee on the BNPP and a presidential commission on the facility, said copies of the study are available at the Senate and Office of the President.
“The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant had four times the average [defects] for nuclear power plant construction. In addition, the earthquake and volcanic hazards of the site had never been satisfactorily resolved until today. It will be catastrophic, should the plant [be] operated,” Perlas told the congressman. But Cojuangco barred Perlas from further citing the Aquino-era study, saying he was merely spouting hearsay because neither he nor Congress had copies of the document.
In a statement distributed to reporters after the hearing, Perlas said the visiting experts concluded that the BNPP cannot be operated safely and efficiently. It appears that this study, on top of the Aquino administration’s aversion to any project from the previous Marcos era, provided the excuse not to use the power plant after its completion more than two decades ago.
However, even if it can be argued that the rehabilitation of the BNPP needs more study, the cost of getting the plant online after all these years is definitely prohibitive. And given the humongous amounts already spent for the Philippines’ all-time biggest white elephant, allocating even a peso more seems scandalous.
Lowdown
Jojo Robles
Manila Standard Today
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=jojoRobles_feb26_2009
Wake Up, Philippines! 
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