Mediamen are crying foul over the libel charges filed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy against seven news outlets over the questionable buyout of the Malampaya gas field in Palawan, which they said were based on a formal complaint filed against them before the Ombudsman and press statements.
TAKING the cudgels for journalists who it described as being harassed, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines hollered against the libel suits filed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy against seven news outlets who reported on the graft complaint filed against them over the controversial Malampaya gas field buyout.
“The complaints, filed at the same time across seven news organizations, are clear harassment suits meant to intimidate and chill the press,” the NUJP said in a statement on Saturday.
The news organizations whose executives, editors and reporters are facing Cusi and Uy’s libel complaint are Philstar.com, ABS-CBN, Business Mirror, BusinessWorld, GMA News Online, Manila Bulletin and Rappler.
The lateral guild of journalists said the P200- million Cusi is seeking in damages from the news organizations could “cripple” them, adding that even if this were not to be enforced, the lawyers’ fees and time they would spend are “enough to send a chill.”
“It is meant to say: Be careful what you report next. It is the textbook definition of a chilling effect,” the NUJP said.
The union also said that the stories produced by the seven news organizations sued by Cusi and Uy were based on a press conference, a press release and a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman, which are all “fair game” in journalism.
It also pointed out that journalists merely reported on the graft complaint lodged against Cusi and Uy and never accused him of graft.
‘Protect, support public officials’
For his part, Cusi said in a statement he filed the libel complaints “to protect the integrity” of public officials and “to support and honor them.”
He added that this is “to defend my family’s honor and to send a strong message that there is a fair and humane way to settle misunderstandings and differences without resorting to malicious news reporting.”
But the NUJP added that journalists do not work to settle misunderstandings and differences but to report them.
Public’s guardians
“We are the public’s guardians — out to report on matters like this, a difference of opinion between the executive and the legislative, the latter pointing out that there were shortcuts to approve the sale of billion-peso shares of the Malampaya project, a crucial public infrastructure,” the union said.
For the NUJP, Cusi should drop his libel complaints and instead focus on explaining to the public what happened in the Malampaya gas deal.
“Keeping his reputation clean is not the job of journalists, but his own,” it said.
The Senate energy panel led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is investigating the alleged irregularity of the purchase of shares of the Malampaya gas field, which is now 90% owned by Uy, a major campaign donor to President Rodrigo Duterte, through two subsidiaries.
The remaining 10% belongs to state-run Philippine National Oil Corp.
The gas project, operational since 2001 and accounts for 40% of Luzon’s annual energy requirements, is seen for decommissioning between 2027 and 2029 after a projected decline in energy output starting 2024 — the year the service contract would expire.
Malampaya also generates revenues for both national and local governments in the form of royalties.
Last year, the former’s share, which accounted for 60% of total, reached P26.57 billion.
Tags: #Mediaprotest, #libel, #DennisUy, #DoESecretaryAlfonsoCusi, #harassment, #pressfreedom