Southeast Asian media back suit vs Arroyo husband

Southeast Asian media organizations on Monday expressed support for media practitioners in the Philippines who filed a civil class suit against First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, President Arroyo’s husband, who earlier filed cases of libel against 43 Filipino journalists. "If the presidential spouse intends to send a message that journalists who dare to cross him will face a libel suit, then the victims – both the press and the people – must push back with a stronger message that contempt of press freedom is contempt of the people," the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa) said in a statement released Monday. "We strongly support the filing of a class civil suit against Mr. Jose Miguel 'Mike' Arroyo for his abuse of power and his clear attempt to undermine press freedom in an important member of the Southeast Asian community," the Seapa statement said. Starting 2003, Arroyo sued for libel 43 journalists from three daily newspapers and a fortnightly newsmagazine, claiming a total of P141 million in damages. All but one of 43 accused journalists signed a countersuit that accuses Arroyo of abuse of power and violation of press freedom. The suit, which the journalists set to file in the last week of November, claims P87 million in damages – a symbolic amount of one peso for every Filipino. The Seapa statement said the spate of libel cases in the Philippines has alarmed journalists in neighboring countries. "The Philippines is in the clear minority of countries in Southeast Asia with a functioning—if perennially vulnerable—free press. In this light, the deterioration of the conditions for press freedom under the regime of President Arroyo is a troubling trend that causes anxiety in the rest of the region," the Southeast Asian media group said. Other media organizations in the region that signed Seapa’s statement include Indonesia’s Alliance of Independent Journalists and Institute for the Study on Free Flow of Information; Malaysia’s Aliran, Center for Independent Journalism and Malaysiakini; Burma’s Mizzima News; Cambodia’s Alliance for Freedom of Expression; and the Timor Leste Journalists Association in East Timor. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, a Manila-based media watchdog, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism also signed the statement. The CMFR, in a separate statement, said that while President Arroyo’s husband has the right to file libel suits, the number of cases showed these were meant to "intimidate" the press. "CMFR does not dispute the right of Mr. Arroyo to file a libel suit against anyone he believes has wronged him through a libelous imputation. But CMFR believes that the sheer number of suits he has filed indicates that the suits are primarily intended to intimidate the press and to silence criticism against himself as well as his wife's administration," the CMFR statement said. The CMFR said libel suits instill fear because, as a criminal charge, journalists can be arrested and, if convicted, be imprisoned and made to pay up to millions of pesos in damages. On November 13, policemen in civilian clothes tried to arrest a reporter inside the press working area in Malacañang over a libel case filed by Arroyo in 2004. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, one of the country’s largest media organizations, earlier launched a signature campaign calling for the decriminalization of libel and an end to Arroyo's "libel filing spree" against journalists. The group said more than 600 media practitioners have signed the appeal. "NUJP believes the spate of libel cases filed by Mr. Arroyo has brought a chilling effect on media and is a brazen affront to press freedom," the group said in a statement also issued on Monday. The NUJP noted that the United States already decriminalized libel as early as 1963. -GMANews.TV