Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing: OCP Manila rules ‘Atorni no case, tolongges na abo...

Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing: OCP Manila rules ‘Atorni no case, tolongges na abo...: OCP Manila rules ‘Atorni no case, tolongges na abogado, gunggong’   are not libelous Alab ng Mamamahayag (ALAM) gives a grade of ...

OCP Manila rules ‘Atorni no case, tolongges na abogado, gunggong’ not libelous

OCP Manila rules ‘Atorni no case, tolongges na abogado, gunggong’  
are not libelous

Alab ng Mamamahayag (ALAM) gives a grade of “excellent” to the Office of the City Prosecutor (OCP) of Manila for ruling that the remarks “atorni no case, tolongges na abogado, gunggong” not libelous for they were made to describe the performance by a Customs official of his official functions.

In its resolution in the case entitled "Atty. Rogel Gatchalian vs. Percy Lapid and Erny Baluyot," the Office of the City Prosecutor ruled that Gatchalian as the acting chief of the prosecution division of Run After Smugglers (RATS) of the Bureau of Customs cannot compel the State to punish Lapid and Baluyot, the columnist and editor of Police Files Tonite, because a public official is a public figure.

To supports the ruling, the OCP of Manila cited the ruling of the Supreme Court in Ayer Productions vs. Capulong, 160 SCRA 865, where it is stated:

“To note, (the) complainant is a government official who occupies the position of acting chief of the prosecution division and Chief of RATS (Run After the Sumugglers) group of the Bureau of Customs.  As much, he comes within the meaning of a public figure or public personage.  He had sought publicity and consented to it; his personalities and affairs had already become public, and could no longer be regarded as his own private business, and that the press had a privilege, under the Constitution, to inform the p ublic about those who have become legitimate matters of public interest.”

Atty. Gatchalian contended that the assault against him as written by Lapid in the column “Kalampag” was no longer categorized as attack to him as a public official but already to his person.

The OCP of Manila stated that it was not automatic for Lapid and Baluyot to be held liable for calling Atty. Gatchalian as “atorni no case, tolongges na abogado, gunggong” because the subject matter of the attack is a public official and the same remarks were made in connection with or related to how the lawyer performed his official functions.

In a column of Lapid, he called Gatchalian with such names after the lawyer subpoenaed a Customs reporter for writing about irregularities in the bureau.

          Lapid contended that it was an assault to press freedom for Atty. Gatchalian to subpoena a reporter for investigation when that journalist, Rex Borromeo, even helped the government and the people by report what smuggling had happened.

Instead, Lapid continued, Atty. Gatchalian should have started a case by his own and investigate the persons involved as reported by Borromeo. 

“How will reporters continue reporting irregularities in the exercise of press freedom if this act of Gatchalian of scaring journalists is allowed to happen and to set a precedent for others to follow?” ALAM chairman Jerry S. Yap stressed.

But the OCP of Manila answered that those harsh remarks were done in relation to what the commentator adjudged as a poor performance of official functions.

The OCP continue citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Borjal vs CA, Jan. 14, 1999, which states:

“The doctrine on fair comments says that if the subject matters of the defamation are of public interest, comments fairly inferred from the facts reasonably believed in as true at the time of writing are qualifiedly privileged even those facts turned out false later. And when the discretable imputation is directed against a public person in his capacity, it is not necessarily actionable.”

The OCP concluded:

“We must always be reminded that being in public office is like entering a lion’s den; subject of getting bitten by a lion. In legal sense, we voluntarily surrender our right to privacy in matters of public interest and thus, wide-open to worst and harsh criticisms and comments. Complainant who occupies a high position in the Bureau of Customs in worst scenario is expected to receive such defamatory imputations as regards the discharge of his functions. However, no matter how harsh the imputations and accusations may be, he must not be onion-skinned as his intelligence and conscience will dictate who and what he really is.”

            This kind of ruling shows that the Office of the City Prosecutor of Manila is an institution that understands the depth of what is press freedom, its indispensability to the society, and necessity to check public officials.

            “For their depth in its ruling on issues involving press freedom, we give a grade of excellent to the Office of the City Prosecutor of Manila, its head Chief Prosecutor Jhoseph Lopez, its Assistant Prosecutor Swerte L. Ofrencio-Gonzales and its chief of its 10^th Division Sr. Asst. City Prosecutor Joselito D.R. Obejas,” Causing declared.

            On the part of Yap, he is hoping that all prosecution offices in the country should follow the example shown by the OCP of Manila.

Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing: Broadsheet journalists can't monopolize Liberty of...

Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing: Broadsheet journalists can't monopolize Liberty of...: LETTER TO SIR ANDY OF MANILA STANDARDTODAY Broadsheet journalists can't  monopolize Liberty of the Press As we celebrate Worl...

Broadsheet journalists can't monopolize Liberty of the Press

LETTER TO SIR ANDY OF MANILA STANDARDTODAY

Broadsheet journalists can't 

monopolize Liberty of the Press

As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day today, May 3, 2012, I post my letter to an elder journalist who forsakes tabloid journalists.

The letter is as follows.

Dear Sir Andy,

Let me be frank but with due respect to my elder to whom I looked up to when I was younger 20 years than today. 

I tell you that many of your facts upon which you base your opinions are false.

Nevertheless, it is not fair to call the Club now as having no luster when the members now are only a product of what their olds did, and when there are hundreds of lifetime members like you who are sufficient in number but not coming out of your shelves to cause change to come to the NPC. (I use the definite article "the" before the acronym NPC to stress that there is only one press club, the NPC. All else are but a vain attempt to repeat the mistakes of old.)

These are some of the hard facts:

1.  The leaders of those days took loans from Security Bank, Philippine National Bank, the forerunner of the Development Bank of the Philippines, and later the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS);

2.  The leaders of those days did not even pay a single centavo from the first to the last creditor;

3. Examining the history of Transfer Certificate of Title No. 38690, the certificate of ownership in the name of the National Press Club of the Philippines, it appears that the later loan was used only to pay for the first, until the debts ballooned in the hands of the GSIS;

4. These are substantial evidence to say that the journalists those days when membership were limited only to the elite broadsheets and excluded from broadcasters were themselves corrupt;

5.  Then the leaders of old did not pay for the real property taxes, compelling the City Hall of Manila to auction off the more than 4,000-square-meter lot of the NPC on April 14, 1974;

6.  To protect its loan interests, the GSIS managed to learn of the auction and it bought the property;

7.  The leaders of those olden days (not golden days) did not redeem the property during the one-year period of grace, paving the way for the GSIS to consolidate ownership over the land and buildings;

8.  The non-redemption dates fell during the term of the president preceding Sir Neal Cruz's term but there has been no evidence of any move from his administration to save the property;

9. Thanks to the grace of Ferdinand E. Marcos, who used his awesome legislative power during the non-existence of the national assembly or the interim batansang pambansa to legislate Letter of Instructions No. 500 on January 28, 1977, ordering the GSIS to give back to the NPC half of the property where the NPC Bldg. stands and get the other half where the PLDT Bldg. stands as payments for all the financial exposures of the GSIS;

10. There is no showing that Sir Neal Cruz or his administration in 1978 ever attempted to implement LOI No. 500, which he could have done to get half of the Club's property;

11.  In 2007, the GSIS sued to evict the NPC from its own house, the NPC Bldg., on the contention that it owned the property as proven by the new certificate of titles, TCT Nos. 265235 and 265236;

12. We lost the fight before the Metropolitan Trial Court of Manila, Branch 22, but we won on appeal at the RTC of Manila, Branch 19, won at the Court of Appeals, and are now fighting off the appeal of the GSIS, which mean that it is the young ones you loath at as "tabloid" journalists who are the ones recovering the NPC property from the misdeeds of yesterday;

13.  Tabloids are newspapers, too, and no broadsheet paper has the monopoly of press freedom, which, in fact, is a sacred right granted not only to the journalists but to all Filipinos as proclaimed in Section 4, Article III of the Constitution;

14.  As to whether the young members now of our beloved NPC are not acceptable to you because they are "tabloid reporters", I do not know how to justify your argument that "tabloiders" who usually write in Tagalog news, Visayan news, Hiligaynon news, Ilocano news, Bicolano news, Waray news or whatever are outcasts if we talk of qualifications to be members therein when there is no such thing in its Constitution and By-Laws or when doing so would violate the equal protection clause of the Constitution; and

15.  I know that you know Sir Andy that we can make a presumption that majority of the journalists are bribe takers or extortionists; the difference lies in how these are done, which, in the case of broadsheet journalists, are in a smarter and more presentable manner by the use of coat and tie although they know that a pig no matter the lipstick is still a pig.

       So that instead of writing about ills when you are not even sure of your facts and yet pursuing opinions that will naturally end up incorrect, why not come to the Club and vote to cause a change?

       The lie that you told is not the truth you proclaimed. A lie can never survive.

       Can we change the NPC by just mouthing out disgusts?

       No, we cannot.

       Remember that freedom is not given by the oppressors, it is fought for by the oppressed.  A right is only for those who fight for it. 

       Good image for the Press Club is not gotten by lip-servicing, it is given by fighting for it.

       So, let us then see each other on the election day on May 6 and let us get our act together.

Respectfully,

Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing

Former news editor, People's Journal Tonight

Former managing editor, Kabayan

Currently editor-in-chief of fledgling Dyaryo Magdalo

THE COLUMN ARTICLE OF MR. ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO

A surreal scene

Posted May 2nd, 2012 by Alejandro Del Rosario & filed under Opinion.

7

It’s World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, May 3 and the National Press Club will hold its elections on May 6.
The scene at the Press Club on Sunday will be surreal as it has been the past decade. It would seem to the outside observer that the NPC elections mirror the vibrancy of press freedom in this country. Yet, the Philippines is listed as one of the most dangerous places in the world for working journalists. Justice still has to be served in the Maguindanao massacre which included 32 journalists, the murder of Doc Jerry Ortega in Palawan and other assassinations of the working press.
While the six major dailies can still feel safe because they are Manila-based, their false sense of security was shattered the other day when Inquirer columnist and University of the Philippines professor Randy David’s house was strafed by still unidentified gunmen. David, who lives within the UP compound, initially thought it was a case of mistaken identity until witnesses said the van-riding gunmen even returned to wait for people to come out of the gate. It was then David realized he was the real target. What was it he wrote to incur someone’s ire?
The atmosphere at the Press Club on Sunday will be festive. There will be the usual banners/ streamers and leaflets proclaiming the virtues of this and that candidate. The NPC election, however, is but a mirror image of the flawed political process of the country’s local and national elections.
Some NPC candidates are funded by politicians and businessmen. Win or lose, these candidates who are mostly running for “the funds of it” will come out richer from collected donations .
One particular candidate for NPC president with questionable qualifications is Percy Lapid, who press club insiders concede is the probable winner. Lapid writes a murky column in a tabloid and is a block time radio commentator who gets away with maligning decent people with impunity because we have a moribund Press Council and a useless Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas who should be policing media ranks.
Lapid’s credentials? Sixteen libel cases still pending for which he is out on bail. If elected and then found guilty by the court, the NPC would have a convicted criminal as president.
Freelance journalist Alex Allan sums it up: “Percy Lapid’s election is a foregone conclusion because of simple arithmetic. There are no longer any newsmen belonging to the respected national dailies who are members of the press club. He is being put up by a group of radio block timers and tabloid reporters who sewed up the membership a few years ago by registering every Tom, Dick and Juan in the NPC with funds collected from corrupt customs and immigration officials and the country’s top smugglers.”
It’s practically rigged because the well-funded candidate pays for the registration of many provincial correspondents who make up the majority of the NPC roster. In some instances, the billeting of a big group of correspondents from the provinces are paid for by the moneyed candidate, courtesy of his businessman or politician patron.
How can the responsible sector of the press recapture the NPC from the clutches of the entrenched group? We can’t, no matter how we shake up the poisoned tree. The usual suspects will prevail and then take their oath before the President of the Republic, through the Office of the Press Secretary. Why do elected NPC officials want to take their oath before the President when the press traditionally should have an adversarial role vis-a-vis government? The reason is to give legitimacy to a flawed election process..
The alternative is to organize a parallel press club composed of publishers, editors, and reputable columnists. So it will not look like an elite club, reporters can be members but their application for membership should be subject to screening and vetting by a publisher-editorial board. If the reporter is eligible, the newspaper which the applicant is affiliated with should pay for his membership so as not to add to his financial burden. Hopefully, such a press club could then regain the respect of the public.
Such a club was tried by Inquirer columnist Neal Cruz and the late Adrian Cristobal and Max Soliven. But somehow, Samahang Plaridel, the alternate press club, was a work in progress that seemed to have stalled.
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/May/02)

Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing: ALAM dedicates top action plan to World Press Free...

Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing: ALAM dedicates top action plan to World Press Free...: ALAM dedicates top action plan  to World Press Freedom Day           ALAM dedicates top action plan  to World Pr...

ALAM dedicates top action plan to World Press Freedom Day

ALAM dedicates top action plan 

to World Press Freedom Day 

        

ALAM dedicates top action plan 

to World Press Freedom Day 

 

           ALAB NG MAMAMAHAYAG (ALAM) celebrates May 3, 2012, World Press Freedom Day, by dedicating its top action plan if it is accredited as a partylist organization for the 2013 election and gets elected thereby.

             ALAM seeks to fight in the Congress of the Philippines for the establishment of laws designed to make the Liberty of the Press as "true and genuine."

         ALAM believes strongly that it is only by making press true and genuine that Filipinos can attain high transparency and accountability in governance.

         Total transparency and accountability, for its part, is the top element of true progress in economy, in making the people establish high moral and decency standards, in promoting unity among all tribes and all religions, in making the people intelligent and informed about all affairs or issues facing the country or a community, in making all people ostracize those who discriminate and oppress as well as those who steal people's money, in making the people proud of themselves, among others.

            Thus, ALAM will push hard for the enactment of a Freedom of Information Bill and for revocation of libel from criminal books, as well as oppose to the hilt any proposal for a right of reply law.

             ALAM will also push for an imprisonment for violation of press freedom.

            ALAM will also push to give maximum penalty to persons who attempted to kill, was frustrated to kill, or killed a media person if it is shown that it was a case of a contract killing.

             ALAM will also seek to punish a conspiracy to kill a media person if it is shown it is related to the work of a journalist, which punishment shall be slapped even if the conspiracy did not result in any initial act to pursue the conspiracy.

            Should you wish to read the "True and Genuine Press" agenda, it is posted below.

True and Genuine Press

            Alab ng Mamamahayag (ALAM) has resolved to devote most if not all of its manpower, efforts and resources for the establishment of a State where the Press is true and genuine.

        It is only when there is true and genuine liberty of the press that total transparency and accountability in government affairs is achieved.  

And when this is established, there will be equal and fair distribution through fair competition for all the privileges and rights among the small and big businesses, rich and poor entrepreneurs, indigenous peoples and those belonging to the major tribes, Muslims and Christians and people of other religions, and people of all creed or ideology.  

With this transparency and accountability as strong as the Great Wall, it is easily seen that the economy will be active among all classes to promote a number of transactions occurring a thousand times than the present, thereby ensuring more taxes to the government because each transaction entails tax earnings for the State.

And when total transparency and accountability is set on solid grounds, the educated public eyes provide a strong deterrence to discourage public men and women from engaging in any form of graft and corruption, from discriminating against any person, from oppressing any person, from compelling subordinates to commit illegal acts for the bosses to gain, from committing other crimes, and from doing all other illegal or immoral acts.

At the same time, this will grow the moral, decency and delicadeza standards of Filipinos.

It is the urgency of now for the Philippine society to try totally-free press and see the light of day to make the government an ideal government truly for the people, by the people, and of the people. 

 

To achieve an ideal government is to declare expressly that the State is sacrificing that perceived-but-less-important interests to protect the honor of public officials or employees and making the freedom of expression, of speech, and of the press as a matter of policy, a matter of right, a matter of culture, a matter of tradition, and a matter of norm.

ALAM will work for enactment of laws that remove imprisonment and warrant of arrest for any libel, perceived or otherwise, as part of a broad strategy to achieve a kind of government that is truly for the people, by the people, and of the people.

ALAM will push for laws that imprison persons for any act that restrains or stops the exercise of Press Freedom, especially if these acts are committed prior, during or after the actual intention to exercise the same, or even if these were to be done directly or indirectly.

ALAM will push for substantively huge freedoms to access to all information under the control of the government to reinforce the True and Genuine Press agenda.  

Aside from making the access a solid presumption and for the office concerned to have the obligation to prove that the data sought must be exempt from free access, Alab ng Mamamahayag will push for a total access to all information kept in all offices.

This total access policy includes scrapping even the abused “executive privileges” or “deliberative privileges” upon the principle that Public Office is a Public Trust. 

ALAM will also abolish the confidentiality rule between the boss and his confidential employee because history shows that this only breeds contempt, corruption and crimes. 

Under this principle, ALAM considers all acts as belonging to the people’s domain, except only those matters that are proven by the clear-and-present-danger proof that it would cause death to any person or an end to the life of the State, matters that pertain to the preservation of the dignity and intrinsic worth of the children and women, and those that clearly endanger the life of secret agents.

ALAM will also push for the free zone of all kinds of information twenty (20) years after they have been kept confidential.  This means, that no matter the confidentiality or secrecy importance, all information that are 20 years old or older must be open to the public.

ALAM will fight any proposal to enact Right of Reply Bill because it will work to restrain or control the exercise of press freedom by any citizen.

ALAM will also fight for the separation of facts from opinions in all published or broadcast items and to push for a law that will make all opinions as ones that cannot be sources of any liability, criminally, civilly or administratively.   

This is because ALAM subscribes to the idea that “everybody is entitled to his or her opinion.”  This is also a compliance with the Philippines’ obligation to the United Nations for signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that commands all states to respect and make free the right to express of their people.

Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing: Nobel ideas dedicate for labor

Berteni "Toto" Cataluña Causing: Nobel ideas dedicate for labor: ALAM 2012 Labor Day Message Nobel ideas dedicated for labor Alab ng Mamamayahag (ALAM) dedicates its labor action p...