BAGUIO CITY – The Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) plan to sue journalists for sabotage is seen as yet another assault on freedom of the press and of expression.
Nonoy Espina, national director of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), said they find it utterly ridiculous for election commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer to seek to “cleanse the (journalism) profession” and to equate what he claims are offenses of the media – spreading false news and false comments that diminish the credibility of Comelec – to electoral sabotage, a non-bailable offense punishable with life imprisonment.
Espina, scion of a well-known family of journalists in the Visayas, said they will not dispute Ferrer’s perception that some unnamed media personalities are out to deliberately ruin the poll body’s reputation.
He insists, however, that Ferrer still has to prove his accusation.
“It appears to us that Ferrer’s threat, coupled with the fact that he leaves the alleged culprits conveniently unnamed while hinting they are known media practitioners with his reference to air conditioned rooms, is a misbegotten and limp attempt to sow fear among opinion-makers and media executives,” Espina said. – Artemio Dulao