House shelves 'Right of Reply'

MANILA, Philippines - After shelving the reproductive health bill, the House of Representatives has likewise suspended deliberations on the controversial right of reply bill (House Bill 3306), which would have curtailed press freedom in the country.

Congress adjourned on Wednesday. Both chambers will be enjoying a long legislative break in time for the elections and will be back on the last day of May.

Nograles said they postponed deliberations on the controversial measures because of lack of time and quorum.

“The right of reply bill will not be discussed anymore. We don’t have enough time to discuss and deliberate on controversial matters,” Speaker Prospero Nograles said in a press briefing.

The right of reply bill became the subject of intense lobbying by big media organizations because it is confiscatory in nature.

The bill seeks to give anyone who feels they have been maligned by the media the “right of reply” on the same space where the offending article is published, or if broadcast, the reply shall be aired on the same time slot as the offending clip.

The reply should be published or broadcast not later than a day after it is delivered to the editorial office. It should not be longer than the “accusation or criticism” and should be free of charge.

Administration ally Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Antonio Cerilles said lawmakers should no longer push the measure because it will forcibly take newspaper space .

“ (The bill is) confiscatory because the space is going to be forcibly taken from the newspaper,” he said.

The latest version of HB 3306 eliminated the penalty of imprisonment for heads of media outfits that refuse to print, broadcast, or post the reply of the aggrieved party.

The latest version of the measure stipulates that the editor-in-chief, publisher of print media outfits, or the station manager and owners of radio and television stations who “fails or refuses to receive” or publish or broadcast the reply will have to pay P10,000 on first offense, P20,000 on second offense, and P30,000 on third offense. Repeated violations will be fined P50,000.

The latest version has junked the provision on slapping fines of P200,000, imposing imprisonment of not more than 30 days, and threat of closure on the fifth offense.

Congress could have passed more bills

Malacañang said the 14th Congress could have passed more bills, although the Palace is not in a position to judge the legislative performance of Congress because it is a co-equal branch of government, deputy presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said.

“We would just like to move on and focus on the positives and try to get the important measures that were passed properly considered by the Palace and if enacted into law, implemented,” Saludo said.

The Senate has been criticized for spending too much time on the ethics complaint against Sen. Manuel Villar on the C-5 road extension controversy. 

The House of Representatives, on the other hand, failed to act on pending bills because of lack of quorum.

“Of course there are sectors that were unhappy with the non-passage of some bills that they were pushing for and I’m sure they have something to say to the legislators about how they feel,” Saludo said in Filipino.

Saludo welcomed the passage of the disaster management response bill and the corporate recovery bill.

As secretary-general of the public-private reconstruction commission created by President Arroyo last year, Saludo said that the disaster management response bill would make government response to calamities faster and more efficient.

The corporate recovery bill, on the other hand, is expected to preserve jobs and business growth in the face of troubles caused by the global recession and natural calamities.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is disappointed that the political bickering in the Senate had sidelined the passage of a firearms control bill.

PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said Senate Bill 3584, a measure proposing stiffer penalties for crimes related to firearms and light weapons, could have helped the PNP minimize crimes during the election period by going after partisan armed groups and violators of the nationwide gun ban.

“This piece of legislation should empower the police in preventing violence during the election period through more aggressive and effective firearms control,” Verzosa said.

National broadband scandal

Aside from the bypassed pieces of legislation, the Senate also has pending committee reports, among them the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee report on the national broadband network (NBN) deal.

Businessman Joey de Venecia III yesterday said the Senate should have approved the committee report.

“Although I and my father (former House speaker Jose de Venecia II) were among those recommended for investigation, I wanted the Senate to approve the report to strengthen cases pending in the Office of the Ombudsman,” he said during the Serye Café news forum in Quezon City.

The younger de Venecia is one of the principal witnesses in the Senate inquiry into the $329-million NBN deal between the government and Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

The Senate failed to approve the report and the recommendations of Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Sen. Richard Gordon on Wednesday because it lacked quorum.

De Venecia said the approval of Gordon’s report would have supported the pending criminal charges against former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos and former economic planning secretary Romulo Neri.

“I understand that the Office of the Ombudsman is set to file charges against them (Abalos and Neri) with the Sandiganbayan,” he said. “As for me and my father, we have been cleared by the Ombudsman.”

The Blue Ribbon Committee report recommended the investigation of all those involved in the 2007 NBN-ZTE scandal, including First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

De Venecia is running for senator under former President Joseph Estrada’s Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino party. With Marvin Sy, Cecile Suerte Felipe, Jess Diaz