No rights violated, says Sun Star officer

There was no censorship as far as the management of Sun Star Publishing Inc. is concerned in its decision to suspend columns of broadcaster Bobby Nalzaro.

Lawyer Raymond Alvin Garcia, asst. vice president for legal affairs and administration of Sun Star Publishing Inc., said writing a column was not a right but a privilege given by the management.

Garcia responded to a statement by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) which deplored the dropping of Nalzaro’s hard-hitting column Saksi in Sun.Star Cebu and Sun.Star Superbalita in January.

The group said the suspension “sends a chilling message that columnists like Nalzaro” can be gagged if their opinions displease the newspaper’s owners or their relatives.”

Garcia, whose father Alvin is a first cousin of suspended Gov. Gwen Garcia, disagreed.

“We respect their opinion. This is a free country so they can always come up with their own opinion but what the journalists should also understand is that there is really no censorship here because to write a column in a newspaper is really a privilege and not a right”, Garcia said in a radio dyLA interview.

He said Sun.Star has its board of directors and stockholders, particularly top management, which gave columnists the privilege to write a column.

Garcia said it is also the board’s prerogative to decide if Nalzaro can continue writing or not.Garcia said it was just speculation that the suspension was prompted by Nalzaro’s hard-hitting commentaries against suspended governor Garcia.

“There can be any other reason, like management has the right to protect itself because maybe it might be sued for libel or face other suits arising from the column of Bobby Nalzaro,” he said.

Garcia, a former Cebu City vice mayoralty candidate, said Sun.Star won’t compromise its editorial policies to advance a relative’s interests.

“We have our own journalistic principles. We follow our code of ethics and our code as journalists. We are very fair,” he said.

Garcia said the issue involving Nalzaro’s columns didn’t affect newspaper sales.

“We are always monitoring it everyday and modesty aside, we still are the number one by far.”

According to Nalzaro, board members told him it was Gwen’s father Rep. Pablo Garcia who asked his nephews in the newspaper management to suspend the column until the Capitol impasse is resolved. Nalzaro said he respects the decision because “blood is thicker than water” and won’t sever ties with the paper.

NUJP said the silencing of Nalzaro comes at the expense of the reading public who needs to see issues in the standoff at the Capitol from all possible sides.

The camp of suspended Gov. Garcia denied any hand in the suspension of Nalzaro’s column.