‘The First Gentleman abuses his power’

Below is the statement issued today, Thursday, by Marites Vitug, the editor of Newsbreak magazine whose staff members are some of the respondents to the libel cases filed by Mike Arroyo.

Statement

Dec. 28, 2006

The press, no matter how imperfect, keeps an important watchdog function. The First Gentleman, by filing a flurry of libel cases against 45 journalists, wants precisely to stop us from performing this role.

Clearly, Mr. Mike Arroyo wants to silence the press. His actions have a chilling effect on the media. As a lawyer, he knows the jurisprudence on libel yet he goes against the admonition of the courts not to be thin-skinned.

If  Mr. Arroyo succeeds in silencing the press, we, the public, stand to lose. We will be kept in the dark on issues of public interest. We will lose the check and balance in our institutions—and that’s going to be a sad day for Philippine democracy.

The First Gentleman abuses his power by filing an unprecedented number of libel cases against journalists. By going after most of the journalists who have written critically of him, he is sending a message to all journalists that he is not fair game. He is fair game. He is a public figure.

In this class action suit, we are seeking P15 million in damages. It’s a symbolic amount. But the value of what we stand for, fair reporting and press freedom, is far beyond this figure. We want to make the point that such behavior or conduct has a price. We want to discourage others from behaving the same way the First Gentleman does.

Marites Danguilan Vitug

Editor in Chief

Newsbreak

Cell phone 0918-9126615