What the heck, here it is in full (apologies for cut-and-paste, Sir Doronilla and INQ7):
ANALYSIS
1017: Press main target
First posted 06:13am (Mla time) Feb 27, 2006
By Amando Doronila
Inquirer
Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the Feb. 27, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's proclamation of a state of national emergency on Friday has pushed the Philippines into the twilight zone of a failed democracy.
The failure of democracy was starkly highlighted by the swift crackdown on targeted political "enemies of the state" following the announcement of Proclamation No. 1017 on Friday morning.
Before ink of the President's signature on the proclamation had dried, police arrested two on the government's list of at least 10 people alleged to be part of the "tactical alliance" of mainstream opposition politicians, "military adventurers" and communist rebels "engaged in a concerted and systematic conspiracy to bring down the duly constituted government elected in May 2004 and raided the offices of the Tribune newspaper critical of the administration. Those arrested were former Philippine Constabulary chief Ramon Montaño and Representative Crispin Beltran, a leftist congressman representing the Anakpawis party-list group.
police actions left little doubt that the press has become a main target of the crackdown and the raids signaled a direct assault on the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
The raids have created apprehension in the media over what media organizations would be raided next, but the proclamation and general orders issued by the President to the national police to implement the proclamation have clearly indicated that press freedom has not been effectively curtailed in a degree not seen since President Ferdinand Marcos shut down newspapers and media networks in a total clampdown of the press following the declaration of martial law in September 1972.
The media should not have any illusion that Proclamation No. 1017 has effectively ended freedom of the press as they have known it.
Although the Marcos clampdown on media was total and sweeping, the Arroyo crackdown, which is being done incrementally, piecemeal and selectively, is no less a fatal body blow to press freedom, the first freedom to go under when a dictatorship is established. With the proclamation, Philippine democracy has lost one of its key underpinnings of political liberty.
More than the politicians and the members of the extreme Right and the extreme Left, the first victim of the crackdown is the media, accused by the administration of allegedly fueling political conspiracies aimed at overthrowing the government.
President Arroyo issued the proclamation in response to what it claimed was a systematic conspiracy of a tactical alliance of opposition politicians, military groups involved in coup plots and of communist rebels to overthrow the government. The thwarting of the plot triggered the proclamation.
The proclamation followed claims by the government that it had uncovered and aborted a plot to topple the government. The foiling of the plot led to the arrest last week of two senior officers – Brigadier General Danilo Lim and Colonel Ariel Querubin, brigade commander in Lanao del Sur.
The government claimed that Lim had planned to announce withdrawal of support of his unit for the government, that he had tried to persuade other military leaders to support the withdrawal, and that the withdrawal would have been the signal for the rebellious military units to join a general uprising together with civilian groups that had been demanding ouster of the Arroyo regime.
In announcing the thwarting of the plot, President Arroyo said, some officers had "tried to break out of the Armed Forces chain of command ... and establish a regime outside of the Constitution." The involvement of the press in the conspiracy, according to the President, is that the claims of "these elements" of the conspiracy as a tactical alliance of the "historical enemies of the democratic Philippine state" have been "recklessly" magnified by certain segments of the media.
To counter this conspiracy, the President invoked constitutional emergency powers that authorize her to call out the Armed Forces "to prevent and suppress rebellion" and authorize her to "temporarily take over or direct operation of any privately owned public utility or business affected with public interests."
The President ordered the Armed Forces "to maintain law and order throughout the Philippines, prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as well as any act of insurrection or rebellion, and to enforce obedience to all the laws and to all decrees, orders and regulations promulgated by me personally or upon my direction."
The proclamation gave a blanket authority to the military and national police in the implementation of the proclamation and in compliance of all presidential decrees and orders.
It is on the basis of these instructions that the Philippine National Police carried out the crackdown of the press. General Order No. 5 issued by the President last Friday gave the police and the military powers to carry out "necessary and appropriate actions and measures to suppress and prevent acts of terrorism."
PNP Director General Arturo Lomibao warned on Saturday the PNP would take over any media organization that would not follow "standards set by the government" during the national emergency. The setting up of standards defined by government in effect establishes censorship.
Lomibao said a government team would examine the editorial contents of newspapers and the news or views aired by broadcast stations to see if these conform to these standards. He said, "we will recommend (action) based on our evaluation." He said, "If they (the news groups) do not follow the standards -- and standards are if they would contribute to instability in the government, (or) if they do not subscribe to what is in General Order No. 5 and Presidential Proclamation No. 1017 -- we will recommend (a takeover)".
Violations of standards will be "left to the judgment of the PNP and other agencies that are empowered to implement the order. "Appropriate actions" refer to "actions which are hurting the Philippine state by obstructing government, including hindering the growth of the economy and sabotaging the people's confidence in government, and their faith in the future of this country."
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye has said the government would issue guidelines on stories that "contribute to the exacerbation of the national emergency. So far the guidelines have not been issued, but these would clearly amount to censorship. It was not clear yesterday whether the Tribune would be taken over by the government or whether its editors would be arrested. The presidential chief of staff, Michael Defensor, issued a yet another chilly warning to the media about the risks they faced in publishing stories that might be deemed inflammatory by the government. He said the raid on the Tribune offices was meant to show a "strong presence, to tell media outlets not to connive or do anything that would help the rebels in bringing down government."
The general order and these statements point to the takeover by government of a broad range of discretionary powers in deciding whether to take over media outlets, arresting journalists and stories are offensive to the State. Defensor said, while the government did not want to stifle press freedom, "This is an abnormal situation ... there is a possibility of an armed takeover of the government. A government has a right to protect itself."
The proclamation has forced the press to define how it would operate within these restraints in the exercise of freedom of the press on behalf of the people.
--http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=67693
The failure of democracy was starkly highlighted by the swift crackdown on targeted political "enemies of the state" following the announcement of Proclamation No. 1017 on Friday morning.
Before ink of the President's signature on the proclamation had dried, police arrested two on the government's list of at least 10 people alleged to be part of the "tactical alliance" of mainstream opposition politicians, "military adventurers" and communist rebels "engaged in a concerted and systematic conspiracy to bring down the duly constituted government elected in May 2004 and raided the offices of the Tribune newspaper critical of the administration. Those arrested were former Philippine Constabulary chief Ramon Montaño and Representative Crispin Beltran, a leftist congressman representing the Anakpawis party-list group.
police actions left little doubt that the press has become a main target of the crackdown and the raids signaled a direct assault on the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
The raids have created apprehension in the media over what media organizations would be raided next, but the proclamation and general orders issued by the President to the national police to implement the proclamation have clearly indicated that press freedom has not been effectively curtailed in a degree not seen since President Ferdinand Marcos shut down newspapers and media networks in a total clampdown of the press following the declaration of martial law in September 1972.
The media should not have any illusion that Proclamation No. 1017 has effectively ended freedom of the press as they have known it.
Although the Marcos clampdown on media was total and sweeping, the Arroyo crackdown, which is being done incrementally, piecemeal and selectively, is no less a fatal body blow to press freedom, the first freedom to go under when a dictatorship is established. With the proclamation, Philippine democracy has lost one of its key underpinnings of political liberty.
More than the politicians and the members of the extreme Right and the extreme Left, the first victim of the crackdown is the media, accused by the administration of allegedly fueling political conspiracies aimed at overthrowing the government.
President Arroyo issued the proclamation in response to what it claimed was a systematic conspiracy of a tactical alliance of opposition politicians, military groups involved in coup plots and of communist rebels to overthrow the government. The thwarting of the plot triggered the proclamation.
The proclamation followed claims by the government that it had uncovered and aborted a plot to topple the government. The foiling of the plot led to the arrest last week of two senior officers – Brigadier General Danilo Lim and Colonel Ariel Querubin, brigade commander in Lanao del Sur.
The government claimed that Lim had planned to announce withdrawal of support of his unit for the government, that he had tried to persuade other military leaders to support the withdrawal, and that the withdrawal would have been the signal for the rebellious military units to join a general uprising together with civilian groups that had been demanding ouster of the Arroyo regime.
In announcing the thwarting of the plot, President Arroyo said, some officers had "tried to break out of the Armed Forces chain of command ... and establish a regime outside of the Constitution." The involvement of the press in the conspiracy, according to the President, is that the claims of "these elements" of the conspiracy as a tactical alliance of the "historical enemies of the democratic Philippine state" have been "recklessly" magnified by certain segments of the media.
To counter this conspiracy, the President invoked constitutional emergency powers that authorize her to call out the Armed Forces "to prevent and suppress rebellion" and authorize her to "temporarily take over or direct operation of any privately owned public utility or business affected with public interests."
The President ordered the Armed Forces "to maintain law and order throughout the Philippines, prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as well as any act of insurrection or rebellion, and to enforce obedience to all the laws and to all decrees, orders and regulations promulgated by me personally or upon my direction."
The proclamation gave a blanket authority to the military and national police in the implementation of the proclamation and in compliance of all presidential decrees and orders.
It is on the basis of these instructions that the Philippine National Police carried out the crackdown of the press. General Order No. 5 issued by the President last Friday gave the police and the military powers to carry out "necessary and appropriate actions and measures to suppress and prevent acts of terrorism."
PNP Director General Arturo Lomibao warned on Saturday the PNP would take over any media organization that would not follow "standards set by the government" during the national emergency. The setting up of standards defined by government in effect establishes censorship.
Lomibao said a government team would examine the editorial contents of newspapers and the news or views aired by broadcast stations to see if these conform to these standards. He said, "we will recommend (action) based on our evaluation." He said, "If they (the news groups) do not follow the standards -- and standards are if they would contribute to instability in the government, (or) if they do not subscribe to what is in General Order No. 5 and Presidential Proclamation No. 1017 -- we will recommend (a takeover)".
Violations of standards will be "left to the judgment of the PNP and other agencies that are empowered to implement the order. "Appropriate actions" refer to "actions which are hurting the Philippine state by obstructing government, including hindering the growth of the economy and sabotaging the people's confidence in government, and their faith in the future of this country."
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye has said the government would issue guidelines on stories that "contribute to the exacerbation of the national emergency. So far the guidelines have not been issued, but these would clearly amount to censorship. It was not clear yesterday whether the Tribune would be taken over by the government or whether its editors would be arrested. The presidential chief of staff, Michael Defensor, issued a yet another chilly warning to the media about the risks they faced in publishing stories that might be deemed inflammatory by the government. He said the raid on the Tribune offices was meant to show a "strong presence, to tell media outlets not to connive or do anything that would help the rebels in bringing down government."
The general order and these statements point to the takeover by government of a broad range of discretionary powers in deciding whether to take over media outlets, arresting journalists and stories are offensive to the State. Defensor said, while the government did not want to stifle press freedom, "This is an abnormal situation ... there is a possibility of an armed takeover of the government. A government has a right to protect itself."
The proclamation has forced the press to define how it would operate within these restraints in the exercise of freedom of the press on behalf of the people.
--http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=67693
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