License to libel

barya lang naman pala ang nagagastos ni jose pidal sa pang-iintimidate at pangbubusal sa mga taong tagasiwalat ng mga katiwalian neto. why not di ba? hindi man lang makabawas sa limpak-limpak na pera ni jp yan.

dapat siguro ang ipairal sa mga korte natin ay katulad ng sa englatira na kung sino ang matalo sa kaso ay siyang magbabayad sa lahat ng nagastos sa paglilitis ng kaso. para hindi sampa na lang ng sampa ng kaso ang mga tao lalo na sa mga libel cases. para naman yung mga not guilty parties ay merong mapagbabawian ng mga nagastos nila sa bandang huli.

It is shameless for the Arroyos to employ SLAPP (short for “strategic lawsuits against public participation”) suits to mute critics.

Citizens who are dragged into SLAPP harassments seldom lose in court if they fight back but they are stigmatized in the short-term while stemming others from joining their or similar cause. SLAPPers attain their goals by forcing critics to spend considerable amounts of time, money and other resources defending their fundamental rights to speak out on public issues and to petition the government for redress of grievance.

Sec. 425.16. of California Code of Civil Procedure (http://casp.net/cal425.html) is one good model for this legal reform.

Hi Abe, it’s been a long while. Welcome back!

nowhere, joselu, is libelous print nor slanderous speech condoned.

it’s only that libel is a criminal offense — something many fools and idiots agree to and many craven opportunists take advantage of.

I think it’s about time to think decriminalizing the libel and slander and make it a civil offense. That way the contest is between the plaintiff and the defendant and the complainant would not be taking advantage of the taxpayers’ money by using the services of the public prosecutors while it is a criminal offense and also when the plaintiff is proven wrong the court may award the defendant the legal cost or may even consider a counter suit. The reason why the only person suing journalists and writers here is Sir Conrad Black, for exposing his frauds and now he is in Big trouble because the U.S. Federal Prosecutor is charging him for Frauds.

The “rotten apple” analogy is in fact the rationale for the right to speak out freely deserving a preferred stand in the marketplace of ideas. It has to be so because free speech is also a necessary component of “political sovereignty” – or the power of the people as the source of political authority – to retain control over the leaders they have chosen to manage the affairs of the community. A rotten idea, the thesis goes, attracts no adherents and eventually it putrefies by itself to oblivion.

For example, if someone posting in PCIJ would do so to heckle at the President all for the sake of heckling, it will probably not be worth the trouble for a presidential rooter to react to the post. But if there’s any grain of logic or truth to the commentary that may linger in the public mind, refutations of various shades from supporters and flunkies alike are quickly let loose. It’s fair enough maybe. For partisans see to it their version of the image or position of their bets gets the coverage and attention in the marketplace. So too scrutiny of public figures initiated by individuals – journalists, activists, ordinary citizens or hecklers for that matter who may not have the deep resources of an organized media to fight the fat man.

The powers that be must not be too thin-skinned even to disparaging or infuriating criticisms especially if the goal of the exercise is ultimately to agitate for political action or institutional changes or, paraphrasing Justice Malcolm, to serve as scalpel to relieve the abscesses of officialdom.

jr_lad,

speaking of how much mike a. is spending to sue people for libel, an old pugad baboy strip comes to mind:

senator usurpo cabalfin, in a fit of pique, is about to sue someone for libel, over allegations of the misuse of his pork barrel funds. his assistant asks him from where they’d get the money to spend for filing the libel suit.

answer? from the pork barrel, of course.

sounds familiar? switch senator cabalfin with somebody else, switch pork barrel funds with fertilizer funds, and you get the picture.

mahirap talaga kalabanin etong si mike arroyo aka jose pidal. tingnan nyo na lang etong nangyari sa mga tulfo brothers. hindi lang dinemanda tinanggalan pa ng kabuhayan. si mon tulfo naging maamong tupa. hindi niya pa naranasan eto sa mga nakabangga niya noon kabilang na si panfilo lacson. tingin ko nga mukhang bibigay na si tulfo sa harap ng camera. sabi niya pa nga kay korina, hindi niya inaasahan na ganito katindi ang magiging aksyon ni pidal laban sa kanya. pati mga kapatid niya ay nadamay din. sa takot ng pamunuan ng rpn 9 sa malacanang, tinigok lahat ang magkapatid.

ang maganda yung sinabi ni mareng winnie ng mag-guest si mon tulfo sa mare-pare. ang punto ng mensahe niya para kay jose pidal ay: “kung merong mang nagawang pagkakamali laban sa yo yung tao, karapatan mo na idemanda eto para mailabas ang katotohanan. pero huwag mo nama etong tanggalan ng kabuhayan. yan ay malinaw na abuso na sa kapangyarihan.”

sang-ayon talaga ako sa mga sinabi ni mareng winnie. etong mag-asawang pidal ay matagal ng nag-aabuso sa kapangyarihan. dapat mag-ala thaksin na etong mga taksil ng bayan. TAMA NA. SOBRA NA. PATHAKSIKIN NA.

[…] Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of Philippine president Gloria Arroyo, has in recent months filed libel cases against 43 reporters, columnists, editors and publishers of various publications. A lawyer himself, Mr. Arroyo is shrewd and calculating in his exploitation of libel laws in the Philippines, a leading human rights lawyer has pointed out. Related to this, more than 600 journalists and 30 local and foreign media organisations, including the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and SEAPA, have supported a petition drafted by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines calling for the decriminalization of libel in the country. […]

[…] Forty-two out of the 43 journalist facing libel charges filed by Arroyo are filing a class-action civil suit. They are also seeking cash damages. […]

[…] Forty-two journalists charged in a rash of libel cases filed by the husband of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo have signed on to a civil class suit against “First Gentleman” Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, alleging abuse of power and violation of press freedom. GMANews reports that the journalists are poised to seek damages of P87 million (nearly US$1.75 million), “a symbolic amount of one peso for every Filipino.” “The Filipino public is represented here because it is the public which suffers most when there is no press freedom,” lawyer Harry Roque, the journalists’ legal counsel, told a forum at the University of the Philippines. In recent months, Mr. Arroyo has filed libel cases against 43 reporters, columnists, editors and publishers of various publications. SEAPA and one of its founding members in the Philippines, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, are supporting the action to defend press freedom in the Philippines. A complete list of the cases is provided and updated by one of the journalist-defendants, Ellen Tordesillas, here. A lawyer himself, Mr. Arroyo was shrewd and calculating in his exploitation of libel laws in the Philippines, Theodore Te, a leading human rights lawyer has pointed out. Related to this, more than 600 journalists and 30 local and foreign media organisations, including the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and SEAPA, have supported a petition drafted by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines calling for the decriminalization of libel in the country. The journalists said that should they win their counter-suit against Mr. Arroyo, all proceeds will be used to set up a trust fund to advance local journalism. The complaint is expected to be formally filed in the last week of November. “It is now time to do something apart from protesting Arroyo’s libel suits,” Luis Teodoro, board member of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), a founding member of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance. […]

[…] Doctors advised him to avoid stressful activities, as he will continue to undergo cardiac therapy. Arroyo had filed more than 50 libel cases against 46 journalists. […]