The country’s telecommunications regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), has violated the people’s right to due process for ordering the blocking of websites allegedly linked to “communist-terrorists,” former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Atty. Domingo Cayosa said.
Cayosa said the NTC violated its own 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure when it ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to block over 20 sites upon request by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., GMA News reported.
“If someone requests or complains about a website as Secretary Esperon did, what the NTC should have done was inform those listed there and give them a chance to respond or oppose the request. That needs to be backed with evidence, and be thought out and reviewed by the NTC as a collegial body. Only after that could they release a decision or an order. But what happened was that within two days from the letter request, NTC suddenly ordered the websites to be blocked immediately,” Cayosa, in the report, said.
Cayosa also said that “only one out of the three NTC commissioners signed the order as opposed to Rule 12, Section 1 of NTC’s Rules of Practice and Procedure that “all orders, resolutions, and/or decisions shall be signed by the majority of all the Commissioners.”
Reports said the sites blocked by the NTC were those of progressive groups such as Save Our Schools Network, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, Pamalakaya Pilipinas, and BAYAN. Other blocked websites included independent news organizations Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) earlier denounced the act, stressing that only seven out of the over 20 NTC-blocked websites are affiliated with them and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
CPP stressed that what Esperon did was a form of censorship and suppression of the people’s right to free speech against the incoming Marcos administration, GMA News reported.
Cayosa further said the order to block “may cause a ‘chilling effect’ in the media industry.”
One of the websites, Bulatlat, said the regulator’s action was a “brazen violation” of its right to free speech and free press as provided for under the Philippine Constitution.