“The judge ruled that what Romero wanted goes against the policy of government to make public projects more transparent and open to the scrutiny of the people.
by Ducky Paredes
Quezon City Judge Evangeline Castillo-Marigomen threw out a temporary restraining order (TRO) petition filed against two broadsheets by real estate developer Reghis Romero and his company R-II Builders .
The TRO would have stopped the publication of advocacy advertisements asking President Aquino to investigate the Smokey Mountain project and the aborted payment of billions of pesos to R-II.
The judge ruled that what Romero wanted goes against the policy of government to make public projects more transparent and open to the scrutiny of the people.
After all, it is taxpayers’ money that R-II wanted as payment — P3.17 billion for a project for which it once admitted accomplishing only P211 million worth of actual work done.
Also, the court noted that granting the TRO would amount to the imposition of prior restraint on media. Censorship, said Judge Marigomen, has no place in a democracy. Her decision stated: “The TRO sought by R-II has no place in a democracy like the Philippines because it sought to stop media from fulfilling its mandate to present all sides of a story.”
R-II should not take media to task for just doing its job of providing balanced views on a particular issue because the ideal is for all parties to an issue to be given a fair chance to be heard.
It should be pointed out that the same papers had been running countless ads that can be reasonably assumed to be coming from R-II or from its allies. The ads have been defending if not praising to high heavens the Smokey Mountain project.
Now, how can R-II ask P30 million in damages from the same papers who just balanced the many pro-R-II and pro-Smokey Mountain project ads with but a few contrary ads?
Since when did it become wrong for taxpayers to ask government to ensure against the overpricing of public projects? Isn’t that the very essence of fighting corruption, a self-imposed crusade of President Aquino?
At the end of the day, R-II must justify every centavo of the billions of pesos it is seeking from taxpayers, while accounting for the rentals and profit share of the government from Manila Harbour Center, which it has not been remitting remit for the last 10 years.
These are very valid issues, which members of media have the duty to dissect and bring before the people.
The “Dear Noynoy” ads asked for a full-blown investigation on, among other things, why R-II was to be paid P3.17 billion for a project for which it admitted in court having actual accomplishments amounting only to P211 million.
The P3.17 billion was part of the P4.4 billion whose release under a “compromise agreement” involving R-II and the Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC) was endorsed to Malacañang by former Vice President and housing czar Noli de Castro before he stepped down from office.
The “compromise agreement” would have been signed before President Aquino took his office last June 30 had it not been exposed in media as overly lopsided in R-II’s favor.
The ad also questioned R-II’s control of the 79-hectare Manila Harbour Center, as well as its non-remittance for 10 years now of government’s share from the rentals and profits generated by the government-owned land.
The Kapisanan Kontra Korapsyon (KKK), which paid for the ads, says of the judge’s decision:
“This is a victory for the people in our fight against corruption and the imposition of prior restraint and censorship on news media.” In her order dated August 13, Judge Evangeline Castillo Marigomen said the court could not grant the TRO because it would transgress a “policy of government with respect to the transparency of government contracts as well as prior restraint.”
“This is a press freedom issue, as what are really harassment charges filed against journalists, media outfits and crusading citizens should be promptly thrown out by our courts,” KKK said.
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In our dealings with Hongkong (China), we must keep our eyes open about the actual game that China is playing. For instance, did you know that a story was reported on Chinese TV news and by the official Xinhua news service that China has planted a flag at the bottom of the South China Sea. The Chinese submersible, Jiaolong, executed 17 dives in the South China Sea from May 31 to July 18. The deepest dive took them to 3,759 meters.
Dean Cheng, the top Chinese defense expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, says that the flag planting, “highlights (again!) that China has laid claim to the South China Sea.” Islands and reefs in the South China Sea are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. A Defense Ministry spokesman said “China has indisputable sovereignty” of the South China Sea, though he allowed that the PRC would allow ship and aircraft passage “from relevant countries” if they comply with China’s interpretation of international law.
Are they taking advantage of the mistakes, incompetence and errors we committed in that hostage crisis in the hope that our new upright President may eventually be as easy to deal with as the one prior, who was a virtual commercial agent for the PROC?
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