09 November 2005
EDITORIAL: Bloggers put on notice
THIS is definitely disturbing news for the now very popular online commentary medium more popularly called “blog”, short for Web Log, the current craze for those who want to say something but don’t have a newspaper or magazine to say it in. Or, if they had one, are restricted one way or the other by editorial policy or, yes, the ubiquitous legal parameters of fair comment.
A Quezon City regional trial court has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on a blog post of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) about the background and credentials of Jonathan Tiongco, the alleged audio expert presented by Environment Secretary Mike Defensor back in August, this year to question the authenticity of the “Hello Garci” recording.
The court lent its judicial shield, albeit temporarily, to Tiongco’s wife who said the PCIJ blog post was an intrusion into her private and happy 12-year marriage with her husband, Jonathan and that it was a “grave violation of my rights and those of my minor children.” RTC Presiding Judge Ralph S. Lee was however careful enough to stress that it had not yet ruled on the merits of Mrs. Tiongco’s petition but that an order removing the particular blog post or item was “the safer and more prudent recourse in order to safeguard and balance conflicting rights and interests of the parties/litigants.”
The democratic space for free speech and expression once again comes under threat and test even as the PCIJ blogsite , and all other blogspots for that matter, may well be testing the limits of free expression in cyberspace and the extent of judicial coverage insofar as the internet is concerned.
Just how does one control the Internet? This PCIJ case should be an interesting piece for “bloggers” to watch, that is, if it ever reaches the appellate court or the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, not being a respondent to the case, those who post their comment on the TRO issue against PCIJ may not be cited for contempt as they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the court’s restraining order.
You be the judge on who’s the bigger loser in this kind of cyberspace “game”: the plaintiff or the respondent.
A Quezon City regional trial court has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on a blog post of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) about the background and credentials of Jonathan Tiongco, the alleged audio expert presented by Environment Secretary Mike Defensor back in August, this year to question the authenticity of the “Hello Garci” recording.
The court lent its judicial shield, albeit temporarily, to Tiongco’s wife who said the PCIJ blog post was an intrusion into her private and happy 12-year marriage with her husband, Jonathan and that it was a “grave violation of my rights and those of my minor children.” RTC Presiding Judge Ralph S. Lee was however careful enough to stress that it had not yet ruled on the merits of Mrs. Tiongco’s petition but that an order removing the particular blog post or item was “the safer and more prudent recourse in order to safeguard and balance conflicting rights and interests of the parties/litigants.”
The democratic space for free speech and expression once again comes under threat and test even as the PCIJ blogsite , and all other blogspots for that matter, may well be testing the limits of free expression in cyberspace and the extent of judicial coverage insofar as the internet is concerned.
Just how does one control the Internet? This PCIJ case should be an interesting piece for “bloggers” to watch, that is, if it ever reaches the appellate court or the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, not being a respondent to the case, those who post their comment on the TRO issue against PCIJ may not be cited for contempt as they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the court’s restraining order.
You be the judge on who’s the bigger loser in this kind of cyberspace “game”: the plaintiff or the respondent.
