Time to Reassert Freedom of the Press

Makati Court judge Branch 54 Reynaldo Laigo today killed press freedom with just five pages of nebulous writings. In his decision, he dismissed the class case filed by media advocate Atty. Harry Roque against government and police officials involved in the arrest of media people who covered the November 29 Manila penn siege.

Laigo said there is nothing illegal nor arbitrary with the arrests, even granting a cloak of legality to the police order. Short of being accused of contempt, I find the decision appalling and outright stupid.

Laigo wrote that the complaint "does not constitute sufficient cause of action for damages against the defendants that warrants further prosecution of this case." He says there's nothing arbitrary about it.

What I found stupid and disgusting about this decision is that it only took Laigo five pages to resolve a purely constitutional issue. I really don't understand Judge Laigo. He totally missed the point. This is not a question befitting some analysis of the Rules of Court; this is a constitutional issue which should at least merit more than 5 pages. Probably, Laigo thought that the issue has already passed; and therefore, groups do not find this important anymore. Well, he's dead wrong. His decision could even spark a full-blown revolt!

“This is a big blow to press freedom. In effect, it’s the police now who can say when you can cover an emergency and when you cannot,” Luis Teodoro of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) said Wednesday.

Laigo may have decided unjustly. Media organisations should go to the Supreme Court for solace. They simply can't get it from Laigo's court.


The media groups complained the arrests were “arbitrary and illegal having made with the abuse of discretion… the police officers being fully aware that there was no probable cause to believe they were committing or had committed an offense.”