DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 03 Mar) - Instead of decriminalizing libel, Surigao Rep. Prospero Pichay wants a series of seminars and trainings for journalists to make them more responsible in their reporting.
Opposition lawmakers have proposed to decriminalize libel after President Gloria Arroyo’s husband, lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, filed a string of charges against dozens of journalists for linking him to alleged corruption and fraud in the May 2004 elections.
"I believe reporters in the country need to undergo seminar and trainings for them to be always responsible in their profession," Pichay, an ally of President Arroyo, told reporters here.
Retaliating against the charges filed against them, the journalists are in turn suing Mr. Arroyo for abuse of power and for seeking to undermine civil liberties. And they are therefore seeking P87 million (nearly US$1.75 million) in damages, in a symbolic campaign to charge Mr. Arroyo one peso for each of the 87 million Filipinos he wants to deprive of free expression.
The counter-suit against Mr. Arroyo—signed by 42 of journalists he had sued yet evidently failed to intimidate—is inspiring, groundbreaking, and potentially standard-setting not just for the Philippine media, but for free expression in the whole of Southeast Asia, if not the world.
Mr. Arroyo has repeatedly denied all accusations against him. (Romy Bwaga)
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