Negros media support nationwide protest vs. RORB
BACOLOD CITY -- In support of a nationwide protest against the right of reply bill (RORB), Negros journalists led by the Negros Press Club and the Negros Media Council for Press Freedom wore black or red T-shirts or ribbons yesterday.
Negros Press Club president Edgar Cadagat described the bill as an anathema to an independent press that will curtail the freedom of speech and expression that is why the protest calling for the scrapping of the RORB is right.
Yesterday’s nationwide protest spearheaded by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines included a picket at the House of Representatives, and a dialog with House Speaker Prospero Nograles.
Last March 19, members of Negros Press Club and other media organizations in the province staged a protest against the passage of the RORB at the Fountain of Justice.
The group believed that the bill is in violation of the Constitution, more importantly press freedom.
Right of Reply Bill in the House of Representative is sponsored by no less than Bacolod Lone District Congressman Monico Puentevella, former President of Negros Press Club while Senator Aquilino Pimentel sponsors it in the Senate.
It is now pending for further deliberation in both houses of Congress after it has been a big issue in the country when Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) and even print media aired their opposition.
The RORB infringes upon the editorial prerogative of the broadcast media, station managers, and publishers who are already practicing balanced reporting, he added.
“The struggle against the bill and for press freedom is without let-up,” Cadagat stressed.