Batas Mauricio
NO matter how I look at it, the proposal of House Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro of Capiz on qualifying the freedom of the press and of speech found in the 1987 Constitution with the word “responsible” (so that press freedom could then be invoked only if it was exercised in a “responsible” manner), looks like a sly maneuver to suppress further the already diminished freedoms in the country today.
According to his proposal, Castro would have Section 4, Art. III (or the Bill of Rights) of the 1987 Constitution revised, by the insertion of the words “responsible exercise” in describing the freedoms of the press and of free speech that are guaranteed therein.
That proposal would mean those freedoms could only be recognized in favor of newsmen, broadcasters, and any other media practitioner (or any other person, for that matter) if they exercise them “responsibly”.
Too, it would appear that, with Castro’s proposal, the freedoms of the press and of free speech would undergo a transformation–from the seemingly unfettered exercise thereof under the current Constitution, to an exercise of those freedoms that is limited and tentative, precisely because media personalities would now have to contend themselves, in making their reports or their opinions, with issues of “responsible” reporting.
Whoa! Not so fast,
Congressman Castro. Who is going to decide whether a report or an opinion of a mediaman or of any other outspoken person is “responsible” or not? Would it be the mediamen themselves, or the subject of whatever were written, whether as a report or as an opinion piece? And what is going to be the standard of what is “responsible” and what is not?
Along the same lines, what is going to be the punishment if a report or an opinion is not “responsible”? The truth is, from the way things stand today under the 1987 Constitution, the freedom of expression is already suffering from great limitations, even if the phraseology in the basic law of the land seems to give the impression that this is one freedom that is unfettered.
If the truth be told, even if the Constitution itself is proclaiming that there is no law that can abridge or take away the freedom to freely express one’s self in this country, laws on libel or defamation remain. These laws impose stiff penalties on newsmen or other individuals who come out with anything that are considered destructive of another person’s reputation, and therefore undeniably constitute limitations on one’s ability to say something.
On account of the continuing effectivity and validity of these laws on libel and defamation, it is beyond denial by everyone that the Constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms of the press and of expression are greatly subverted not only in the case of media personalities, but even among the citizenry as well.
Concededly, these laws impose some kind of a selfestraint on reporters, broadcasters and other media workers, preventing them from using to the hilt their right to publish whatever is necessary to bring out the truth on matters affecting the government and the nation.
And if Castro is going to be successful in pushing his proposal to ultimately become a part of the Constitution, mediamen would one day wake up and find themselves losing more of their freedom to publicize their reports or their opinions, until nothing is left of it. When this happens, we can be sure that corruption and criminality would thrive all the more in every nook and cranny of the country.
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I Really don’t know if something beneficial is going to come out of the planned dialogue between President Duterte and top officials of Kuwait, as a means of solving the problems of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in that country and stopping the spate of killing of our countrymen in that place.
My feeling is that, Kuwaiti officials will only deny that there is any official policy allowing or encouraging the killing of Filipinos in their kingdom. I believe they will also deny even more rabidly insinuations that some kind of negligence on their part could have triggered or contributed to the deaths of the OFWs employed in Kuwait.
What the President must instead strive to learn more urgently is the spiritual angle in the sending of our countrymen to Kuwait and to other countries to find gainful employment. If this is what he will focus on, he will not fail to realize that Filipinos going abroad to seek the proverbial greener pasture and suffering greatly in their host countries were all prophesied to happen earlier.
For starters, I wish to bring to President Duterte’s attention the exact and definite prophecies dealing precisely with this kind of misfortune befalling many of countrymen coming from the different verses of the Bible, particularly its Deuteronomy 28:15 and 32. What these verses are prognosticating to happen to our OFWs is truly shocking.
This is what Deuteronomy 28:15 is saying: “However, if you no longer listen to the Lord your God and no longer obey His commands I am giving you today, all of these curses will come upon you and overtake you…”
On the other hand, here is what Deuteronomy 28:32 is saying: “Your sons and daughters will be given to other nations, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, (but you will be) powerless to lift a hand (when trouble grips them)…”
It is clear, from the foregoing prophecies from the Bible, that great suffering await many of our children. They will go to other nations where they will suffer terribly in the hands of their foreign masters. What would be more painful would be our inability to do anything to help them, in the exact manner that is happening today.
What is the reason for these misfortunes? According to the Bible, this is because we are no longer listening to the Word of God, even as we are no longer obeying His commands. In other words, we have turned away from God, and this is occasioned by our refusal to read His Bible, and to comply with the things that are written therein.
That being the case, the real solution appears to be this: bringing Filipinos back to God, through a conscientious daily reading of the Bible, meditating on whatever it is that we will be learning from its pages, and complying with each and every command that is found therein. If we do this, God will take away the curses in our lives, and He will even give us the collective success and prosperity of our nation.
E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com
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