Nine out of 10 Filipinos want live media coverage of the Maguindanao massacre trial where members of the powerful Ampatuan clan are among those accused, according to the pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS). The survey, conducted Nov. 27 to 30 last year, had 1,200 adult respondents, according to SWS. The SWS said most of those who were in favor of the live coverage were from Mindanao, where 92 percent answered in the affirmative.
In Metro Manila, 88 percent of the respondents want the trial to be aired on television, while 12 percent do not want to. Among the social classes, those from Class A, B, and C want TV coverage the most (97 percent), compared to the 90 percent from Class E.
The survey also showed government’s net satisfaction rating rising in November last year, with 41 percent of the respondents saying they were satisfied with government actions to resolve the case. Two months before that, in September, SWS said the net satisfaction was 35 percent or six percent lower.
Meanwhile, public monitoring of the proceedings remained unchanged from September to November 2010, as 70 percent of those interviewed said they followed the trial either “somewhat closely" or “very closely." Four separate petitions have been filed by different media networks and organizations with the Supreme Court asking for live media coverage of the trial being presided by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes. [See related:
Media groups ask SC to allow Ampatuan trial's live coverage] The Palace has already given its support to a live coverage of the proceedings, with President Benigno Aquino III stressing that they should be done “in full public view... [so that] justice can and will be dispensed without fear or favor and in the full light of day." Reacting to the latest SWS survey, Malacañang on Tuesday reiterated this stand in favor of television coverage of the trial, according to a radio report. Apart from preventing live television and radio coverage of the trial, the Supreme Court has likewise barred reporters from bringing in any recording or digital devices inside the court room like recorders, still and video cameras, and laptops. The petitioners, headed by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, scored this restriction and stressed the importance of using recording devices in live media coverage. “A recorder is indispensable because it fulfills two purposes: First, it ensures accuracy in that whatever the speaker says is preserved word-for-word. And because there is accuracy, the second purpose is accomplished, which is to protect the journalist from charges of inaccuracy or invention," the petitioners said. The specific restrictions on media coverage of the trial stemmed from two rulings in the past that aimed at protecting the accused from getting a trial by publicity. The first was the October 1991 ruling barring live coverage of then President Corazon Aquino’s libel case against the late broadcaster Louie Beltran, while the second was the June 2001 ruling denying a request to air live the plunder trial against then President Joseph Estrada. In December last year, Judge Solis-Reyes briefly
relaxed her policy on media coverage when she allowed mobile phones to be brought inside her court room at the Quezon City Hall of Justice. The following month, the judge reverted back to the original policy of barring any digital devices inside the court room. A total of 197 people — belonging to the Ampatuan clan, their supposed private army, and local policemen — are facing 57 counts of murder for the killings of 57 people, including 32 journalists, on a hilly portion of Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao in November 2009. Over 80 of the accused have already been arrested, while more than 100 remain at large. Hearings were originally conducted at the Philippine National Police headquarters at Camp Crame, but were later transferred to a makeshift courtroom at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, where most of the accused are detained. Late last year, the proceedings were again transferred to Judge Solis-Reyes’ own court room at the QC Regional Trial Court Branch 221 inside the Quezon City Hall of Justice.
— KBK/RSJ, GMA News 
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