Philippines: Upholding the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression

A statement of the Philippine Center of the International PEN [Poets and Playwrights, Essayists and Novelists] on the November 29, 2007 incident

THE CHARTER of the International PEN upholds freedom of expression and free access to public information, to wit:

“PEN stands for the principle of unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations, and members pledge themselves to oppose any form of suppression of freedom of expression in the country and community to which they belong, as well as throughout the world wherever this is possible.
“PEN declares for a free press and opposes arbitrary censorship in times of peace . . .”

Therefore, based on the declaration of its Charter, the Philippine Center of the International PEN condemns in the strongest terms the state’s manhandling and arrest of members of the press during the November 29, 2007 incident at the Manila Peninsula. It also urges state authorities and their instrumentalities—the police and the military—to respect the constitutional right of the press to access, without obstruction, public information and to report it freely.
The Philippine PEN likewise exhorts state authorities to recognize the critical importance of the press and the pen to the society and to the world—that acce ss to public information and its free dissemination by the press is crucial to the health and even survival of democracy and a regime of freedoms.
The Philippine PEN strongly urges the state to respect and observe the freedom of the press and the freedom of the pen.

Adopted unanimously by delegates to the 50th anniversary congress of the Philippine Center of the International PEN, December 9, 2007, National Museum of the Philippines.

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