Laughable Philippine Supreme Court Ruling on the

Bench-Only Media Coverage of the Verdict on ex-Pres

Estrada's Plunder Case
The media coverage of the promulgation on the Plunder case of ex-Philippine President
Joseph Estrada was effectively disallowed by the Supreme Court ruling that ridiculously
limited the view of the TV camera to the bench proceedings and ensured that no view of
the defendant was shown to the public.

The much-awaited verdict on Estrada was read September 12, 2007 in the office of the
anti-graft court Sandiganbayan amidst tight security and practically nil "live" media
coverage. Ruling on an appeal, the Supreme Court of the Philippines had earlier granted
the request of the media organization Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP),
but only under ridiculously restrictive conditions. In a decision that played lip service to
"freedom of the press," the high court—the same body that defended the biased presence
of its chief justice in the EDSA 2 revolution, which toppled Estrada in 2000, as akin to
attending a "party"—ruled that the coverage of the Erap verdict be restricted to the bench
reading of the judgment and that the sole television camera be operated by the court's
media office.

The ruling was a hopelessly and undemocratically ridiculous instance of the suppression
of the freedom of the press and information of the Filipinos. The coverage of the court
proceedings without a view of the former President's countenance during the moment of
promulgation was practically no coverage at all. With this brazenly censoring decision,
the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled to deny the Filipino people the right to
witness, via telecast, the unfolding of a most important moment in the country's history.
Why the Joseph Estrada impeachment and the ensuing mutinous EDSA 2 were covered in
sensational full detail, while virtual media censorship applied to the Estrada Plunder case
smacked of a devious political machination by current President Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo.

The unmistakable inference to draw from this is that an ingloriously beholden Philippine
Supreme Court connived with the highly unpopular Arroyo administration in order to
preclude the anticipated public unfolding of a dramatic "guilty" verdict scenario, and
thus, try to prevent a congruence of sympathies for Estrada. As if indeed a piece in a
grand scheme, the anti-graft court actually passed a "guilty" verdict on Estrada for the
count of Plunder. Not surprisingly, the former President's family already expected the
decision, saying a few hours beforehand that they feared for a "political decision" of
conviction for Estrada.

Sober-thinking, patriotic Filipinos can only sigh in frustration, and hope for the time
when all the virtual media censorship, injustice, imbalanced media, charade of
presidential "legitimacy" amidst national electoral fraud, degenerate leadership,
unparalleled corruption and unprecedented national economic woes will ever end. Until
the time the Filipinos muster its strengths, uphold its virtues and assert political and
media sanity in order to take the necessary step of rectifying the grievous blunder of
EDSA 2-cum-Arrobo usurpation of Malacanang, the pathetic nation called the
Philippines is unlikely to see the good end of a hellish rule for some time.