News Roundup 06 December 2022
Dec 06, 2022 • 5 min Read
Journalists warn criminalizing ‘fake news’ may quash dissent | PHILSTAR.COM – Journalists on Tuesday warned senators against passing a bill to criminalize the spreading of “fake news” as they pointed out that this proposed law may be used to silence dissent and curtail free speech. While they recognized that the proliferation of “fake news” — more aptly called misinformation and disinformation — is a problem, journalists representing different organizations and newsrooms expressed worry over its definition in the proposal by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. “It becomes a catch-all phrase to call something fake news if you dislike a person and you don’t like what they’re reporting,” VERA Files founder Ellen Tordesillas told the Senate panels hearing Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s proposal to punish “fake news” peddlers. Gemma Mendoza, Rappler’s disinformation research head, said the term “fake news” can be used “very arbitrarily” and even weaponized by people in power. “Of all the pandemic-related disinformation that Rappler fact-checked, we noticed that none of those were investigated or apprehended by police. But what happened was that there were some who were arrested because local authorities did not like what they posted online,” Mendoza said. National Union of Journalists of the Philippines chairperson Jonathan de Santos also cited the case of Cebu artist Bambi Beltran who was arrested without a warrant for writing a sarcastic Facebook post. “We would like to urge caution in addressing the problem of fake news through legislation that can be used for censorship,” said De Santos, who also heads Philstar.com’s news section. The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas also raised concerns with how the bill defines “fake news” as it feared that it may affect the exercise of the constitutional right to free speech. “It should not be too broad to include prohibition of valid political opinions,” KBP’s Rudolph Jularbal said. “Free speech and expression might be curtailed because of the way the law is crafted.” Under Estrada’s Senate Bill 1296, “fake news” is defined as “misinformation and disinformation of stories, facts and news which is presented as a fact, the veracity of which cannot be confirmed, with the purpose of distorting the truth and misleading its audience.” Both the Department of Justice and Philippine National Police–Criminal Investigation and Detection Group found a portion of this provision — “the veracity of which cannot be confirmed” — to be “questionable” and “conflicting.” “We should remove the phrase ‘the veracity of which cannot be confirmed,’ because it’s very difficult to investigate and prosecute if that itself we cannot ascertain,” state counsel Gerald Vincent Sosa said. PCol. Sidney Villaflor, PNP-CIDG’s deputy director for administration, said it would be difficult to ascertain what is real and what is “fake news.”
Taguig court allows Vhong Navarro to post P1 million bail | INQUIRER.NET – The Taguig Court has granted the motion of comedian and television host Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro to post bail for his temporary liberty. The trial court has set Navarro’s bail to P1 million in connection with the rape charges filed by model Deniece Cornejo. The court took note of the inconsistencies in the affidavits of the complainant, which the court said is supposed to be “the single most important issue in the case.” “Indeed, the notable inconsistencies in the testimony of the private complainant could not be simply brushed aside, considering that these delve into the elements of the offense charged,” the court’s decision dated December 5 said. The court said the prosecution failed to explain why the January 22, 2014 rape incident was filed before the January 17, 2014 incident. “It also bears to reiterate that the testimony of the victim alone is enough to convict a person of rape. However, this comes with the caveat that such testimony should be subjected to greater scrutiny to ferret out the truth,” the court said, adding that it is where the inconsistencies in Cornejo’s account were noted. “While complainant positively claims to have been drugged by the accused, she would also testify she was not sure about it,” the court further said. Likewise, the court said Cornejo’s actions after the alleged rape, particularly the text messages she sent Navarro and the “preening at herself and giggling,” are inconsistent with claim of trauma or someone who underwent painful ordeal such as rape. Lastly, the court said while the complaint alleges that Navarro sexually abused Cornejo through force, threat and intimidation, and by purposely intoxicating the latter, during her testimony she confirmed that the accused had no weapon at that time and that she had not been threatened or intimidated, nor beaten up by Navarro. “With this, the evidence so far presented failed to establish the material allegations in the Information,” the court added. In coming out with its order, Presiding Judge Loralie Cruz Datahan said the court is “not convinced at this time” of the presumption of guilt on Navarro’s part, as alleged by Cornejo. “Viewed in light of the foregoing, and taking the evidence presented in the bail hearings as a whole, this Court is not convinced at this point that there exists a presumption great leading to the inference of the accused guilt,” the court further ruled. “It must be emphasized, however, that a grant of bail does not prevent the court, as trier of facts, from making a final assessment of the evidence after full trial on the merits,” it further stated.
Ex-Batangas vice gov Ricky Recto passes away | INQUIRER.NET – Former Batangas vice governor Ricky Recto has passed away, Batangas 6th District Rep. Ralph Recto confirmed on Tuesday morning. According to the lawmaker, their family is asking for time and space to grieve privately. They assured the public, though, that arrangements are being made for a memorial, details of which may be announced soon. The former vice governor is the older brother of former senator and now Batangas representative Recto. “With sadness, we share the news that our brother Ricky has passed away. Words are hard to come by to express the sorrow of losing him, but we take comfort in our fond memories of him to overcome the pain we feel,” the younger Recto said. “We are touched by your kind words and prayers, but in the meantime, we ask for the time and space to grieve in private. But we do recognize that Ricky had served as a national athlete and elected official, so a simple memorial is being discussed, the details of which may be announced soon,” he added.
