Sen. Hontiveros on ABS-CBN shutdown, Lacson on fake news

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

(Yours truly would like to share the opening statement of Sen. Risa Hontiveros during the Senate virtual presscon on the shutdown of ABS-CBN):

Good morning everyone. I, along with several Senators in the minority and the minority, will file a resolution urging the National Telecommunications Commission to reconsider their cease and desist order against ABS-CBN.

Some Senators agree that, in times of crisis, access to accurate and timely information delivered by the media is essential.

We are also united by Senators, members of the minority and majority, who have been put at risk by the cease and desist order that the NTC has presented to ABS-CBN the work of over 13,000 workers who could also be considered 'frontliners' in today's pandemic.

The Department of Justice has previously expressed legal opinion that ABS-CBN may continue operations. This was also the opinion of the Senate when we adapted the resolution to authorize the NTC to grant provisional authority.

It is not before the provisional authority grants the deed pending renewal.

There is a precedent: the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Broadcast franchise expired on August 4, 2017 and was only renewed on April 22, 2019 by virtue of Republic Act No. 11319. Globe Innove’s franchise expired on April 10, 2017 and was only renewed on December 14, 2018. PT&T’s franchise expired in Nov. 2015, and was only renewed on July 21, 2016.

Another example of why the NTC should not restrict their Memorandum Order 01-03-2020 is that it says the permits certificates and licenses, which will go into effect from March 15 to April 14, or while enhanced community quarantine are still valid up to 60 days after the quarantine period.

So why, just for ABS-CBN and as we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, has the NTC restrictions been selective?

Don't they know that the life and health of Filipinos depends on delivering the right information to the public? Don't they think that in the midst of an imminent recession, you will lose thousands of workers? Isn't it frustrating that as we ease into the opening of POGO, we are closing down a very important industry such as the media?

I hope that more of my colleagues in the Senate express support to this resolution. And hopefully the NTC will hear this because eventually, the Filipinos are actually losing the cease and desist order.

We need to be united and work together now.

                ***

Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson has filed a Senate bill providing heavier penalties against perjury “to put an end to the practice of fake news and false testimonies meant to destroy people's reputations.”
Lacson, in a press statement said he was himself a victim of such false testimonies, noting while he had filed such a measure as early as 2011, it was left languishing in the legislative mill.

              "It goes without saying that this measure will deter the commission of the crimes of false testimony and perjury in solemn affirmation and uphold the sacredness of oath in testimonies and sworn statements by increasing the penalty for their commission. It is for these reasons that I fully support the passage of this measure," he said in his co-sponsorship speech for Senate Bill 1354, which he co-authored with Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senators Richard Gordon and Leila de Lima, at the Senate hybrid session Wednesday.

Under Senate Bill 1354 - which incorporates Lacson's Senate Bill 28 filed in 2019 - any person who shall incriminate any person in the commission of a crime using false testimony shall suffer the same penalty as that being imputed.

If the person responsible for this act is a public officer or employee, the penalty shall be imposed in its maximum period. The offender shall also face a fine of P1 million and perpetual absolute disqualification from public office. Any person who shall willfully and knowingly offer in evidence a false witness or testimony in any judicial or official proceeding shall be punished as guilty of false testimony.

Lacson recalled experiencing firsthand being a victim of a smear drive using false testimonies, especially during his first years as senator during the Arroyo administration.
At the time, he came face to face with countless instances "where a witness went the extra mile to invent hundreds of other lies just to maintain the first lie that he/she made under the sacred oath of truth."

"I myself had been a victim of untruthful testimonies fabricated with the end goal of destroying my person. Never would I forget the unadorable persons answering the names of Ador Mawanay and Cezar Mancao II, and a host of other characters who weaved unthinkable lies and narratives of the crimes that I supposedly committed," he said.

Worse, he said government prosecutors were used and even sent abroad to assist in the preparation of affidavits containing lies and innuendos. But the Court of Appeals eventually found such innuendos incredible, and this led to Lacson's eventual acquittal by the Supreme Court via the dismissal of the said cases.

"Hence, Mr. President, this representation finds it vital to increase the penalty for the commission of false testimonies, particularly, by amending Article 183, Book II, Title Four of Act 3815 entitled 'False testimony in other cases and perjury in solemn affirmation,'” he said.