MANILA, Philippines - The Senate has approved on second reading a bill that seeks to grant a right for redress to persons unfairly portrayed by media Wednesday night, shortly before the first regular session of the 14th Congress adjourned.
Senate Bill 2150, principally authored by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. and co-authored by Senators Ramon "Bong" B. Revilla, Jr. and Francis Joseph G. Escudero, recognizes the rights of persons to reply to media reports or commentaries that are erroneous, unfair or biased against them and injurious to their reputation.
"It is our humble view that the right of reply is not an infringement at all on the freedom of the press. On the contrary, it is an expansion of that right so that the people in general will enjoy the right of free speech which should be respected by the media," Mr. Pimentel said in a statement.
Under the proposed law, "all persons who are accused directly or indirectly of any crime or offense or are criticized by innuendo, suggestion or rumor for any lapse in behavior in public or private life shall have the right to reply to the charges published in newspapers and other publications or to criticisms aired over radio, television, website or through any electrical device."
The measure provides that the reply of the person accused or criticized shall be published in the same space of the newspapers or publications or aired in the same radio or television programs where the article or commentary was printed, shown or aired.
Furthermore, the editor-in-chief, publisher or station manager of the publication or broadcast station who fails or refuses to publish or broadcast the reply of the offended reader or listener shall be liable to the payment of fines not exceeding P10,000 for the first offense, P20,000 for the second offense and P30,000 for the third offense.
A fine of P50,000 shall be imposed for repeated failures or refusals to publish or broadcast the reply.
"Probably, by giving the persons being criticized a chance to reply and get their reply published, according to the strictures of this bill, then hopefully we can reduce the incidence of resort-to-the-gun as a way to even up things with media practitioners," said Mr. Pimentel. Bernard U. Allauigan, BusinessWorld