Punchline
The newspapers’ abominable racket
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
HERE we go again.
In the early 90s, I had warned the regional courts in Pangasinan about abuses being committed by a number of community newspaper publishers, violating the law on publication of judicial notices with impunity at the expense of hapless petitioners.
I had to expose the shameful racketeering of our sector because complaints reaching the courts and The PUNCH had piled up, i.e., petitioners were being charged anywhere from P40,000 to P60,000 for what should have been only P18,000 by our computation based on the law’s prescription)! As expected, The PUNCH was roundly bashed in the pages of the abusive publishers’ newspapers for exposing their racket. (I think the PUNCH will again be subjected to the same because of my discussion of their racket in this issue). Thankfully, the executive judges then caught on and quickly clamped down on the abuses. That was 2 decades ago.
Today, it appears that the same print media racket is back with a vengeance, and worse!
I heard about the complaint of Mr. Ashok Vassandani against the attempt of one local newspaper to collect a whopping P157,000 from him for the cost of the publication of a judicial notice raffled to it by the regional trial court in Dagupan! That’s practically the cost of 3 full pages in national broadsheet newspapers!
Actually, I heard about a similar complaint earlier involving another local newspaper and the protesting party is the Bangko Sentral that has refused to pay some P200,000 for one notice! I thought it was an isolated case and the Bangko Sentral knew better, so I had no reason to be alarmed.
Now, I wonder how many petitioners have fallen victims to our print media sector’s racket – imposing unjust rates on clueless petitioners making it appear that petitioners have no choice but to pay.
It’s sheer criminal! Nothing illegal can be imposed on anyone and not pay for it.
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For the public’s information and protection, here’s what the law prescribes in P.D. 1079 in brief:
1. The publication of judicial notices is covered by P.D. 1079, issued in January 1977 titled: Revising And Consolidating All Laws And Decrees Regulating Publication Of Judicial Notices, Advertisements For Public Biddings, Notices Of Auction Sales And Other Similar Notices
2. Only newspapers that published consecutively without interruption for a minimum period of 12 months will qualify in the raffle of notices. The proof required of applicants: to submit a copy of each issue to the court regularly to prove compliance with the 12-month rule. (I wonder how many courts actually enforce this rule).
3. A qualified newspaper can charge petitioners a rate based on following specifications: Computation will be based on length of publication using 8 POINTS font and SINGLE SPACED. Anything bigger in size and spacing is a violation and deemed illegal. The rate must be based on the newspaper’s advertising rate. (Note: To ensure that petitioners are not billed higher than what the newspaper’s commercial advertisers pay, executive judges had been advised by the Court Administrator as early as1990s to require newspapers to show proofs of their rates to the courts by presenting samples of ads published in the past and a duplicate of corresponding official receipt for payments received. If the newspaper cannot show proof what it is paid for commercial advertising, the law prescribes a rate of P10 per col. inch).
Courts were advised, too, by the court Administrator to promptly disqualify any newspaper found violating the law with corresponding penalties.
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For the education of erring, abusive publishers, here are some salient parts of sections of P.D. 1079:
Section 3. No newspaper or periodical shall charge for the publication of the said notices and announcements less than ten pesos (P10.00) per column inch, nor more than eighty percent (80%) of their regular commercial display advertising rates
Section 6. Violation of any provision of this Decree shall be punished by a fine or not less than five thousand pesos (5,000.00) nor more than twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) and imprisonment for not less than (6) months nor more than two (2) years. The offending executive judge or court personnel shall be perpetually disqualified from holding any public office in the government.
It might interest the executive judges today to know that it is their inability or failure to strictly enforce the law that emboldened unscrupulous owners of printing presses to exploit the illegal opportunities presented to them. Thus began the “publishing” of a string of newspapers with different titles but basically same news content.
Indeed, nothing can be more profitable than being able to print 25-50 copies of 4-6 pages/issue (for the judges) and still charge petitioners at least P100,000 per judicial notice! Beat that racket!
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BACK TO THE FUTURE. The news about Decorp’s Net Metering System (NMS) being implemented for its customers is most welcome, if not timely!
It is a system that encourages the world to use solar panels initially as a source of energy and power.
It is definitely a preview of how the world’s civilization and economy will survive in the decades ahead. With solar energy, we can say goodbye to the coal-fired power plants for good and give way to renewable source of energy, helping the world to minimize the impact on climate change.
The NMS is teaching us to be self –reliant and in the process cut our electric consumption bills. Of course, it is not cheap to install solar panels today but these will soon be affordable in time. Recall when the cellphones were introduced? Units were expensive, and rates for services were astronomical if one compares it to what we have today. A text message then cost P10! A call was P15 per minute. That’s how the use of solar panels will evolve in time.
But the real time benefit if one registers with the NMS today is instant reduction in consumption rate while others have to contend constant increases in generation charges.
As Decorp puts it: “This is one way for us to help reduce the electricity bill of our customers if they start using solar generated power.”
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BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH. We may not be fully aware of it but the public uproar against the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) is a double-bladed sword that points at the throat of the Aquino administration and OURS!
I have no doubt that the PNoy is shaken by it all, and rightly so… and so should we.
The Supreme Court has ruled on both PDAF and DAP… what remains to be resolved is what’s going to happen to the countryside. Metro Manila can take care of itself but what of us in the provinces?
There will inevitably less infrastructures to build, less socialized programs for marginal sectors in the next five years, at the very least. Remember, when government spends less, the economy goes into convulsion, that’s what!
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