Mediamen rally versus Right of Reply Bill
LOCAL newsmen affiliated with three different media associations banded together for the first time for a common cause- to stop the passage of the Right of Reply bill now pending in Congress.
The Pangasinan media practitioners held a mini rallying front of the Dagupan City Museum Friday to express their strong opposition against the proposed law which would require a news organization to give equal space or air time and prominence to a person or entity that is the subject of a critical story or report.
The local practitioners echoed the protest of their counterparts in other parts of the country asserting that the law impedes on press freedom by impinging on a media organization’s editorial decisions.
There is also fear that a “deluge of replies” will be sent them before next year’s elections for the sole purpose of obtaining free media publicity if the bill becomes law.
The members of the Pangasinan Press and Radio Club Inc. led by Allan Sison, Pangasinan Tri-Media Asociation led by Gabriel Cardinoza, and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas under Bernie Errasquin took turns in airing their misgivings about the bill.
Roland Hidalgo, a radio commentator, said Senator Aquilino Pimentel, the author of the bill in the Senate, should instead “push for the obligation of public officials to answer issues”.
“There are so many issues involving local government officials and politicians from the President down to the local officials that people are wanting to hear their reply,” he pointed out.
Cardinoza, meanwhile, said Fr. Rojan Ramirez has expressed support to the local media through a text message saying “We are one with you. We are going to storm heavens with our prayers.”
Sison, for his part, said his members will proceed to the House of Representatives to show their opposition to the bill.
Dagupan Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., in an interview after the rally, said he supports the media’s stance.
“I do not quite agree with the Right of Reply as a law because you don’t legislate matters that will either curtail or stifle freedom of expression,” said Fernandez.#
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