Poe says expansion of Sotto Law ‘well past its due’

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Grace Poe believes the enactment of a bill expanding the coverage of exemptions from revealing a journalist’s source was “well past its due.”

Poe, who sponsored the bill as former head of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, nevertheless hailed its enactment into law.

“We hail the signing of this new law,” she said in a statement on Wednesday. “This is a legislation whose time has not only come but is well past its due.”

“Source protection should extend to all members of the media and across all platforms,”  she added.

President Rodrigo Duterte had recently signed Republic Act 11458 or the act amending the so-called Sotto Law that would allow not only print media journalists but also those in broadcast to decline to reveal confidential sources.

READ: Duterte signs expansion of Sotto Law 

Anonymous sources, Poe pointed out, had several times “played the key to uncovering anomalies and corruption, making wrongdoers accountable.”

“The freedom of the press and the right of the public to know are fortified when the media is able to gather and report news unimpaired and unafraid,” she added./ac