'Chilling effect' of contempt raps worries NUJP

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has expressed alarm over the contempt charge against one of its officials and a widow of Maguindanao massacre victim, and asked the Court of Appeals to drop the complaints. "The contempt charges are alarming and may have a chilling effect, especially on those at the forefront in the struggle to find justice for the victims including the families of the victims and media organizations," the group said in a statement. In its ‘show cause order’ issued last month, Associate Justice Danton Bueser of the CA's Eleventh Division asked NUJP secretary-general Rowena Paraan and Ramonita Salaysay, wife of slain journalist Napoleon Salaysay, to explain why they should not be held in contempt for their comments against two CA justices as quoted in a news article. The appeals court's special division said the two respondents were “foisting bias and corruption" against the court with their statements. Napoleon Salaysay, along with 32 other journalists and 25 other non-media victims were shot to death in what is considered the worst single-day, election-related violence in the Philippines. Members of the Ampatuan clan and of their alleged private army are accused of perpetrating the Maguindanao massacre on Nov. 23, 2009. Multiple murder charges were filed versus 196 individuals, but only 90 have been arrested so far. More than 50 of them have been arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Inhibition of justices Paraan and Salaysay’s wife have called for the inhibition of the two justices, namely Associate Justices Danton Bueser and Marlene Gonzales-Sison. The two justices inhibited themselves from a separate motion filed by clan patriarch and suspect Andal Ampatuan Sr. That motion was later junked by the appellate court. The NUJP said the CA's show cause order will not only affect Paraan and Salaysay but also the families of other victims and other media groups "that remain vigilant against continued efforts of the perpetrators and brains of the massacre to escape culpability." "We will not be cowed into surrendering our right to free expression for we cannot afford to be silent as we monitor the progress of a case that is crucial, not only because it involves the loss of so many of our colleagues, but even more important, because its outcome may well determine whether we can continue to consider ourselves a democracy, a nation, a people," the group said. The NUJP also said there is now an even greater need for the media to closely monitor the progress of the case, especially since a Social Weather Station survey conducted in early May showed growing dissatisfaction over the current progress of the massacre case in court. The group appealed to the CA Eleventh Division to withdraw its show cause order against Paraan and Salaysay, even as it said it would remain "steadfast in ensuring that justice will not be sabotaged." — ELR/VS, GMA News