PHILIPPINES/THAILAND: Abuse of the Right to Sue

By Hector Bryant L. Macale — 2009 Asia Media Forum Fellow*

Impunity manifests itself in various ways. One example is the abuse of defamation and other laws by influential political figures to stifle press freedom and free expression.

The 11 criminal libel suits filed by Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, against 46 journalists in a span of four years is one textbook case of how powerful individuals can use laws — including those in place to protect private reputations and guard against media excesses — to silence a critical press. The presidential spouse asked for 3.2 million U.S. dollars in damages from the journalists he had sued for publishing critical reports and commentaries against him.

Like the Philippines, most countries in Southeast Asia have criminal defamation laws. “In all of the countries of Southeast Asia… defamation law poses a very serious threat to the ability of the media to report in the public interest and, in particular, to expose wrongdoing and abuse of power,” wrote Toby Mendel in “Defamation in Southeast Asia”, a 2008 report by the Jakarta-based Alliance of Independent Journalists and the London-based ARTICLE 19. Mendel serves as ARTICLE 19’s Senior Director for Law. “The chilling effect of criminal defamation laws, and particularly the possibility of imprisonment, is both insidious and well-documented.”

Another problem with defamation laws in the region, Mendel noted, is the “highly excessive compensation that courts may award for those found to have breached the rules.” One such example was the suit filed by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Shin Corporation against media rights activist and then Secretary General of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR) Supinya Klangnarong , for around more than P140 million in damages. The civil suit was later dropped after Klangnarong was acquitted of criminal charges.

Probably recognising the role of the media in bringing down governments, Shinawatra filed several defamation suits against journalists, among other ways of controlling critical commentaries, said Committee to Protect Journalists Asia Program Consultant Shawn Crispin. At the end of Shinawatra’s stay in office after he was deposed in a 2006 coup, only a few critical commentaries were left.

“The Philippines is somewhat more interesting when journalists get sued,” Crispin said. “In the Philippines, it’s clear journalists are going to stand up against it,” noting that several journalists and media organisations such as the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and the Philippine Press Institute filed a class action suit against the presidential spouse for abusing his right and violating press freedom.

“There’s a cultural difference between the Philippine and Thai press,” Crispin noted. When journalists get sued in Thailand, news organisations try and negotiate a deal with the complainant. “In the Philippines, journalists cry out when they get sued.”  

“There’s a fear of debate in Thailand in a lot of instances, that you might step on somebody’s toes. Thailand has a culture of conflict avoidance at all costs, to the point where truth isn’t the guiding principle,” he said. “In the Philippines, you have an argumentative, vivid, lively, vibrant culture of debate that you don’t have in Thailand.”

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(The author works as senior staffwriter at the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility [CMFR]. He is the managing editor of 'Philippine Journalism Review Reports' [PJR Reports], the flagship media-monitoring publication of CMFR. 'PJR Reports' is the first and only publication of its kind in the country and has served as a model for various press communities around Asia. He is one of the four Asian journalists selected for the 2009 Annual Asia Media Forum Fellowships. This article was published in the November-December 2009 issue of the PJR Reports, based on his fellowship research focusing on impunity and the state of free press and expression in Thailand and the Philippines.)