Who defines responsible?

Rep. Gary Alejano (Photo by AARON FAVILA / AP)

Opposition lawmakers objected to the proposal of a House subcommittee to amend 1987 Constitution provision protecting the right to free speech.

House members from the “Magnificent Seven” bloc expressed concern that qualifying any right to free speech as “responsible” might mean spreading “fake news” and “propaganda” to favor the current administration.

“Ano ba ’yung responsible sa kanila, the kind of press freedom that they’re enjoying right now? ’Yung mga fake news at propaganda?” Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said in a press briefing along with opposition lawmakers on Tuesday.

“How can you define responsible? That’s very subjective,” Alejano said.

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said this was why the cancellation of online news site Rappler’s registration happened because the Duterte administration “felt that Rappler was not a responsible media institution.”

“I’m sure other media institutions are also threatened right now so who defines (what’s responsible)? Baguilat said.

Baguilat also chided Duterte allies in Congress for proposing constitutional amendments that would only favor the current administration.

“Parang nangyayari is everybody’s proposing amendments to the Constitution that would favor what the current administration feels,” he said.

At a House committee on constitutional amendments hearing on Tuesday, a subcommittee proposed that the provisions of the Article III or the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution be retained except for Section 4.

The members wanted the specific provision to be amended to: “No law shall be passed abridging the RESPONSIBLE EXERCISE OF THE freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”

In justifying the proposed amendment, the subcommittee cited a position paper by the Presidential Human Rights Committee last October, saying that the right to free speech, or any right enshrined in the bill of rights, “comes with an equal burden of responsibly exercising the same.”