Media Expert Defends Press Freedom in VP Binay Freeze Order Issue

A known media expert and professor of journalism said that the right of the public to know takes precedence over other considerations, including court proceedings.

University of the Philippines professor and deputy director of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) Luis Teodoro told CNN Philippines on Wednesday that the media were the only venues where the public can access information that is of public interest. He added the media has a superior right to provide the information.

Teodoro’s statement came after Vice President Jejomar Binay’s spokesperson threatened to sue a major daily broadsheet for publishing a story covering a Court of Appeals (CA) decision to freeze the bank accounts of VP Binay, including his wife Elenita Binay, their son Mayor Junjun Binay totaling P600 million.

The CA decision came after a petition was filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

Binay’s counsels and spokespersons said that such proceedings should have been “kept in strict confidentiality as provided by law.” Binay’s camp specifically cited Section 14 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).

Lawyer Claro Certeza said over CNN Philippines report that it was regrettable that the strict confidentiality of a proceeding involving an ex parte petition, meaning the respondents’ side was not yet heard, was being “brazenly violated.” He added that those violating the confidentiality rule being liable for contempt, as well as criminal prosecution.

Joey Salgado, head of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for media affairs, said in the same report that those who publish such matters can be taken to court. Salgado pointed to the Liberal Party (LP) as behind the move to leak a copy of the freeze order to the media in an effort to derail Binay’s presidential bid next year.

‘Don’t threat the media’

Teodoro said no one should be threatening any media organization with a suit, adding that the AMLA itself should be amended as it violates on the right of people to information.

“So i think that is one of the messages that this incident is saying. The other message that it’s sending is that it tends to imply, it tends to suggest that Vice President Binay is hiding something. I mean, unfortunately that’s how people will react,” Teodoro said over CNN Philippines report.

Teodoro also added that huge public interest involved in the Binay issue, which, he said, already took up 20 Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee probes into the alleged anomalies in Makati.

The petition filed by AMLC stemmed from the complaints of Nicolas Enciso VI and Atty. Renato Bondal at the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged overpricing irregularities in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II and Makati Science High School.