Of course the journalists, among them some of the country's supposedly more well-respected, will place less emphasis on their act as a retaliation. They are more likely to place the focus on the shotgun approach with which Arroyo has chosen to deal with critics.
In all likelihood, the case filed by the journalists is unprecedented. Well-established norms in the profession have long dictated that journalists must refrain from taking sides in an issue to preserve the integrity and neutrality of the press.
The litigants from the press, of course, will never admit that suing the First Gentleman constitutes taking sides in an issue. But no matter how much they hem and haw in defense of their position, there is simply no way the public will interpret their move otherwise.
For they have placed themselves in the same position as Arroyo, who continues to protest that the libel cases he has filed, not just against journalists but against almost everybody who crosses his path, are in defense of his name and honor.
Of course, that is his right. But that is not the way the Filipino people interpret his moves. Whenever a man as highly-placed as Arroyo begins to file cases left and right, rightly or wrongly the people see it as a form of harassment.
Take for instance the case he has filed against one congressman. This congressman went public with allegations against Arroyo which turned out to be something he could not prove. Even his colleagues in the House of Representatives have initiated moves to expel him.
But the people are the best judge of that. Indeed, the people have long found this young congressman to be an offensive and annoying blabbermouth and have already written him off as an aspirant for the Senate.
Yet Arroyo appears to be trying, unwittingly, to revive this ambitious chap's chances by suing him. The First Gentleman, perhaps owing to his affluent roots, appears to have never fully understood the average Filipino's psyche, which has a natural affinity for underdogs.
This young congressman, who got elected only out of sympathetic memory for his departed senator dad, is a big turn-off. But to be sued, even if rightly, by the First Gentleman of the land is certain to make people think again. The braggart could yet become a martyr.
Arroyo should have established his parameters early. If he thinks he could not handle the flak, he should never have allowed his wife to run for public office. After all, as the husband, his word should carry some weight in his family, to say the least.
But by standing behind his wife all the way, from senator to vice president to president, Arroyo was rightly presumed by the public to have taken things into account and is to be seen as ready for all the brickbats that come associated with public office. Suing changes all that.
The same is true with journalists. A journalist can be sued rightly if he errs in the exercise of his profession or wrongly as a target of oppression. But he does not sue back. The moment he does, he becomes a party to an issue, a side to a story. He loses his neutrality.
The day journalists sued Arroyo was a black one for Philippine journalism. They proved they are only good in dishing it out but are sorry losers when it comes to taking it. For the rule of thumb in this profession is - if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.