Issue Analysis No. 19
March 2006

Regulating Mass Media through Proclamation 1017

“A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know.” - Judge Murray Gurfein

Nothing does more to obscure the purposes of Proclamation 1017 than the government yarn that it was issued as instrument to crush the rebellion of the extreme right and left. No doubt the immediate concern was to disperse the EDSA I celebration which, Malacañang people fear, would not only lead to a repeat of the call for GMA’s resignation but could also lead to the AFP’s withdrawal of support for the Commander-in-Chief. Accordingly the AFP had intelligence reports of a plan by the leaders of the Marines and Scout Rangers to join the EDSA I celebration.

Malacañang’s true purpose for declaring a state of national emergency became clear after Proclamation 1017 was lifted under American pressure, especially when the GMA government continues to warn the public that the police will still undertake warrantless arrest, carry out prior censorship of the press and the National Telecommunications Commission will continue to scrutinize radio and television networks for breach of guidelines banning broadcast of “rebellious, terrorist propaganda and statements that propose or incite treason, rebellion or sedition.”

There is no doubt in the minds of the public that Proclamation 1017 was issued for purposes other than the declared objective of preventing a “left-right” conspiracy “to bring down the government.” Since much of the so-called factual basis about General Danilo Lim, former head of the Scout Ranger, who was said to have conspired with the CCP-NPA to bring down the government, has been proven incorrect. Not only did General Lim deny the charge but Army Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. has also cleared him “I repeat, I am not accusing General Lim of having talked t the CPP central committee members.” General Esperon, Jr. simply reflected that in the broader sphere of power politics, General Lim’s actions “would have benefited… the long-term enemies of the state, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.”

Most Filipinos wondered what kind of imagination had led the AFP intelligence to confuse inference for conspiracy. But to convince the Americans that the so-called conspiracy was real, the police have been going all out after the left. It is a safe campaign since US State Department will not likely intervene to protect the human rights of the six Party List members, accused of rebellion.

Clearly Proclamation 1017 was intended to gag the opposition, the Senate and all others from pressing GMA to give an honest account on the “Hello Garci” scandal during the 2004 presidential elections, graft and corruption involving the First Family, presidential appointees charged with violating the trust of their high offices, and her inability to address the economic issues such as unemployment, stagnant wages and problems of poverty.

Proclamation 1017 had many parallels with Marcos’ Proclamation 1081, not only in its premises but also in its use as an instrument of repression and terror. For most analysts, Proclamation 1017 was a trial balloon, an experiment in martial rule. And despite the fact that it was short-lived, GMA and her people have learned a lot from a week of tyranny and compulsion.

It is clear that the power of the Arroyo government rests ultimately on the forces of violence: the military and the police. But to give her rule a semblance of a just system, she claims to have drawn her powers from the Constitution. It appears too that one of the obstacles to a smooth execution of martial rule is the press. Without controlling the press, the government cannot stay on the offensive, talk about the issues it wants to talk about, and blame the opposition for being untruthful about electoral fraud, lying about the First Family’s involvement in influence peddling and overstating the case about the fertilizer scam.

The press accordingly is biased against her administration and has even allowed the opposition as well as destabilizers to turn good news about her administration into bad news. In GMA’s view, even if she had done everything perfectly, she would still get a bad press. But things could have worked out differently if the police were deputized as the watchdogs of the press.

Unfortunately for GMA, the use of police as watchdogs has led to their manhandling of the press. The press instead of being cowed fought back and went on to challenge the constitutionality of Proclamation 1017, including General Orders 5 and 6. Indeed when palace chief of staff Michael Defensor had asked ABS-CBN to stop live broadcast of the standoff at Marine Headquarters at Fort Bonifacio, not only was he ignored, but it led the two major television networks (ABS-CBN and GMA 7) to present a united front at the Senate hearing on the suppression of the media while Proclamation 1017 was in effect.

Many have been surprised by Malacañang’s move to gag the press when it has its own arsenal of journalists, radio and television commentators, not to speak of the political bigwigs who appeared regularly on Channels 4 and 9 and at the same time get themselves invited to the other major networks, to defend GMA and voice their criticisms of the opposition.

This means that the extensive public relations apparatus assembled by GMA’s spin-doctors on Channels 4, 9, 13 and in government radio stations, not to speak of the ubiquitous presence of government conduits in the major broadsheets, apologists in Channels 2, 5, and 7 and their radio stations, who serve as transmission belts for official government line of the moment have all failed to convince the public to accept Malacañang’s “line of the day.”

Anybody undertaking a content analysis, especially measuring the air-time devoted in behalf of GMA, her programs and those of her political allies, will notice immediately the disproportionate amount of time given to Malacañang and its political allies compared to their critics. Watching the recent proliferation of government sponsored political discussions on Channels 4, 9, 13 and in government radio stations, their press conferences, not to speak of the ubiquitous presence of Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Presidential Chief of Staff Mike Defensor in Channels 2, 7, and 5 and their radio stations. Clearly the Arroyo administration dominates the airwaves. Unfortunately not the way people think about her administration. Accordingly what riled the Arroyo administration about the press was when she announced that “the economy has taken off,” the press instead of knocking off the climate of suffering and pessimism and root for the declared recovery, surrounded the recovery with stories about unemployment, stagnant wages, increasing number of poor going hungry and graft and corruption in government bureaucracy.

Proclamation 1017, among other things, was an admission of defeat by Malacañang in media propaganda, and therefore its spin-doctors have arrived at the conclusion that they must use draconian measures similar to those used during the martial law years such as the takeover of privately owned newspapers as well as radio and television networks. Obviously just neutralizing the opposition by drowning their damaging stories with the government’s version was not enough.
Malacañang press statements and releases have long proven to be figments of political imagination. Malacañang’s so-called pro-people programs inspired neither enthusiasm nor hope even among those who have actively participated in it and perhaps still wish to do so.

But if Malacañang spin-doctors were good students of martial rule, they would have learned that the key to good governance is neither communications policy nor the use of repressive and terrorist tactics but good policy that brings peace, prosperity and justice to the majority of the people.

Cleary the Constitution and current realities will neither allow GMA to muzzle journalists and broadcasters nor permit her to seize control of the media. GMA may have crippled our democracy but it is still a working democracy. This means that she cannot use Proclamation 1017 to pursue her personal agenda. She still has to explain what are the legitimate purposes for curtailing speech and freedom of the press. Regulations are meant to establish not mere order but, rather, a certain kind of order, a just order for which martial rule as anticipated in Proclamation 1081 is not.

(BACK TO TOP)

Home / Programs and Projects / About us / Contact us / Site map / Partners / Links
Telefax +6329299526 email: cenpeg@cenpeg.org; cenpeg.info@gmail.com; cenpeg2k4@yahoo.com
Copyright 2005 Center for People Empowewrment in Governance (CenPEG), Philippines. All rights reserved