A blow to freedom of speech?

Saying it found as obscene the remarks uttered against a rival religious TV host, the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday sustained the three-month suspension imposed on the TV program Ang Dating Daan (ADD) by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

Four justices, however, warned that the ruling could strike a big blow to freedom of speech, since the penalty could constitute prior restraint. The dissenters included Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

In a consolidated decision penned by Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr, the 11 majority justices upheld the MTRCB move to suspend ADD after its host, Eliseo Soriano, uttered offensive and obscene remarks against Ang Tamang Daan host Michael Sandoval.

Soriano founded the religious sect ADD, a breakaway group of the Iglesia Ni Cristo sect. The ADD TV program is aired on UNTV 37. Members of the two religious sects have been at odds for years, on and off court.

In ADD’s Aug. 10, 2004 broadcast, Soriano described Sandoval using obscene and derogatory names. The MTRCB initially slapped Soriano and his program with a 20-day preventive suspension, and later upgraded this to a three-month suspension.

The ADD TV program has been given a “G” rating for general viewership. In suspending Soriano’s TV program, the MTRCB cited Sec. 3 of Presidential Decree  (PD) 1986 granting the Board the power to screen, review, and examine all movie and TV programs and to delete materials that it deems morally offensive.

Rights violation

In challenging the MTRCB ruling before the High Court, Soriano said it violated his constitutional right to free religion, speech and expression.

He also argued that the MTRCB suspension is unconstitutional “in so far as it sanctions the censorship of religious programs as a form of subsequent punishment.”

But the Court said the MTRCB, based on PD 1986, is empowered “albeit impliedly” to issue preventive suspension.

Applying the “context-based” analysis, the Court said Soriano’s “statement can be treated as obscene, at least with respect to the average child,” and thus cannot be considered as protected speech.

Citing SC decisions in the United States, the SC found Soriano’s remarks obscene after considering the use of television broadcasting as the medium, the time of the show, and the “G” rating of the ADD show, making young viewers susceptible to the offensive statements.

Prior restraint

In his dissenting opinion, Puno cautioned that the MTRCB suspension could both be viewed as a penalty and prior restraint.

The three-month suspension, he said, takes such form since it restrains Soriano’s future speech, and thus deserves a higher scrutiny than the “context-based” approach that the majority applied.

“In the absence of proof and reason, he [Soriano] should not be penalized with the three-month suspension that works as a prior restraint on his speech,” Puno said.

In a separate dissenting opinion, Justice Antonio Carpio called the suspension “an unconstitutional prior restraint on freedom of expression” that should not be permitted.

Carpio said prior restraint may only be justified if the contents are either “pornography, false or misleading advertisement, advocacy of imminent lawless action, and (or) danger to national security.”

Carpio added: “Obviously, what petitioner uttered does not fall under any of the four.”

Permissible sanction

But the majority held that the suspension is not prior restraint but a “form of permissible administrative sanction or subsequent punishment” that the MTRCB may validly impose under its charter without running afoul of the free speech clause.”

The SC added the sanction was for the “indecent contents of his utterances in a 'G' rated TV program.”

The Court clarified that the suspension was limited only to the TV program and not to Soriano as the MTRCB “may not suspend television personalities, for such would be beyond its jurisdiction.

Those who joined the majority decision penned by Velasco were Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Minita Chico-Nazario, Antonio Nachura, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Dante Tinga, Alicia Austria-Martinez, Renato Corona and Antonio Brion.

Puno and Carpio were joined by Justices Conchita Carpio-Morales and Leonardo Quisumbing in their dissent. (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

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