TRO on PCIJ blog expires

WITH the expiration of a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) imposed on this blog, the PCIJ has reposted the article, "Mike Defensor’s Expert," which was taken down on Nov. 4 in compliance with the order of a Quezon City judge.

This was the first restraining order issued on a blog in the Philippines and has generated a lively debate on free expression versus privacy in the Pinoy blogosphere.

Last week, the PCIJ  filed before the Supreme Court a petition questioning the issuance of the TRO by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Ralph Lee and asking that he be stopped from proceeding with the injunction proceedings. In its petition, the PCIJ said that the TRO was issued "in blatant disregard of clearly established laws and jurisprudence on freedom of speech, expression and of the press."

"There can be no liability," the PCIJ argued, "when public figures are given additional publicity, as to matters legitimately within the scope of the public interest they had aroused. Our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse."

The Quezon City court issued the restraining on the request of the wife of Jonathan Tiongco, the audio expert presented by Environment Secretary Mike Defensor last August to question the authenticity of the "Hello, Garci" recording that contained allegedly wiretapped conversations of former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and various individuals, including President Arroyo. The release of the recording, which alluded to fraud in the 2004 presidential election, set off the most serious crisis of the Arroyo government, a crisis that remains unresolved.

On August 12, the same day that Tiongco faced the media in a press conference, the PCIJ blogged about his police record and questionable past. 

In her petition, Tiongco’s wife, Rona, said that the PCIJ blog post was an intrusion into "my private life and happy 12-year marriage with my husband" and a "grave violation of my rights and those of my minor children."

In its petition before the Supreme Court, the PCIJ argued that Jonathan Tiongco became a public figure when he faced the media to question  the "Hello, Garci" recording, an issue that was clearly high in the public interest, and when he testified last May in a congressional hearing on the appointment of Angelo Reyes as secretary of local governments. As a public figure, therefore, Tiongco cannot say that his privacy rights are superior to the constitutional guarantees of free speech. The PCIJ also pointed out that other newspapers, websites and TV news programs had published or aired similar reports on Tiongco’s questionable background.

The PCIJ asserted that there is nothing in the blog post on Tiongco that refers to his wife by name. "Neither she nor her children were mentioned specifically, only that their existence was briefly passed upon, the information on them being as they are, part of the vital statistics of the subject matter of the article, Jonathan Tiongco," the petition said.

In fact the only reference to Tiongco’s spouse is buried in the 11th paragraph of the article, which states the known facts about Jonathan Tiongco, as they appeared in a police dossier: "Tiongco was born in Jaro, Iloilo and has known addresses in Fairview, Quezon City and San Fernando, Pampanga. He has four children, two each with his two spouses. The police know him to have several aliases: Jaytee, JT, Jeff, Jonathan Monarca Tiongco, and John Thomas Mendoza Tiongco."

Neither the name of Rona Tiongco nor any of the Tiongco children was mentioned. Curiously, the PCIJ pointed out, Mrs. Tiongco filed the petition only after the Supreme Court had junked an earlier petition against this blog filed by her husband.

Since August, the Tiongcos have filed four  cases against the PCIJ. One of these was a petition filed in the Supreme Court, asking the PCIJ to take down the "Hello, Garci" recording from this blog. It was dismissed last month by the high tribunal, which described the petition as "barely comprehensible" and "bereft of merit."

Free speech advocates and some bloggers are worried that the TRO on the PCIJ would have a chilling effect on blogs, which are known for their freedom from restraints.  Lawyer-blogger Edwin Lacierda even launched an email-writing campaign to "unblock the PCIJ blog." But others, like blogger Sassy Lawyer, said that Rona Tiongco’s right to privacy should not be trivialized.

But the PCIJ, in its petition, asserted: "Th(e) right to free speech and expression defintely extends to the World Wide Web as a communications medium. These are well-established, long-standing and undisputed constitutional rights."