Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 21) — The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) wing led by former President Rodrigo Duterte condemned the 14-day suspension of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) against an SMNI show hosted by Duterte.
The MTRCB on Tuesday decided to suspend the airing of two SMNI programs \”Gikan Sa Masa, Para Sa Masa\” and \”Laban Kasama ang Bayan\” after it received complaints against alleged violations committed by its hosts.
In a statement on Wednesday, PDP-Laban Secretary-General Atty. Aimee Torrefranca-Neri said the suspension was an attack against press freedom.
\”This is a clear affront to the freedom of expression,\” she said. \”The MTRCB has sent a chilling message to the Philippine media, most especially broadcast in this act of curtailing our freedoms, which presents a clear danger to our democracy.\”
Neri said the MTRCB should have waited instead for the findings of the Office of the Prosecutor before making such a move.
\”We should be vigilant about the curtailment of our freedoms because the very essence of our democratic way of life is being attacked by the State in this case,\” she said.
On Oct. 24, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro filed a complaint before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office seeking to address the alleged death threats made by Duterte on national television during his show \” Gikan Sa Masa, Para Sa Masa.\”
But Duterte, in his counter affidavit made public on Dec. 15, denied threatening the life of Castro and argued he is merely recounting a conversation he had with his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte.
Duterte did not appear at the preliminary investigation of Castro’s grave threats complaint despite the court’s subpoena.
‘Not prior restraint’
Former Senator Leila de Lima, on the other hand, said the MTRCB suspension is not about restraining press freedom but a consequence of the previous violations made by the SMNI program hosts.
\”MTRCB’s suspension of Duterte’s and Badoy’s shows is not for future speech, but for past flagrant violations of journalistic and media standards, hence, not prior restraint,\” she explained.
\”Free speech must be distinguished from the peddling of fake news and incitement of people to criminal conduct,\” she also said.
De Lima added that prior restraint principles do not apply to a news channel like SMNI, which she said, does not observe broadcast journalism ethics and standards.
