I read the book “SHADOW OF DOUBT: Probing the Supreme Court” by Marites Vitug. The author is also the Editor of Newsbreak. This book was launched last March 16, 2010 at One Serendra Social Hall, The Fort, Taguig, Philippines.
It tackles about the Supreme Court, its system, culture, decisions and most importantly about the magistrates , which according to Vitug, is the least known branch of the government, the least scrutinized, and the least transparent. It’s quite controversial considering the fact that Anvil, the largest publishing house in the country refused to publish the book. National Bookstore, one of the leading bookstores in the Philippines refused to sell it and Justice Velasco of the Supreme Court just filed a 13 count libel case against the author.
It’s good to know that there are some people who are brave enough to expose the truth eventhough some influential people and organization might react violently.
There are excerpts in this book about how the Supreme Court have favored the INC by uphelding the three month suspension of the TV program, “Ang Dating Daan” . Some observers believed that Justice Velasco of the Supreme Court, who wrote the decision, was just paying his dues to INC because they were the one who endorsed him when he applied for the Supreme Court .
These are the excerpts in the book regarding the case:
–PAGE 93-94–
It did help immensely that Velasco was endorsed by Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, a relative of his wife, and the Iglesia ni Cristo. Velasco listed Cardinal Vidal as one of his references when he applied for the Supreme court. Asked about the INC nomination, Velasco said, “Some of my friends and classmates may have approached the Iglesia ni Cristo”.
Years later, Velasco wrote a decision in favor of the INC when he upheld the three monh suspension of the TV program, Ang Dating Daan, whose host used offensive language against a minister of the INC who also anchors a TV program, Ang Tamang Daan. These religious rivals had been at each other’s throats for years.
The majority sided with Velasco. Four justices dissented, calling the decision a “prior restraint” and therefore, a blow to freedom of speech.
The perception was that Velasco was paying his dues to INC. “It was an en banc decision,” he said, dismissing the perceived bias.
Fernando Elisterio, an academic who has studied the INC leadership was zealous about their religion and didn’t want to be defeated in theological debates. “Its hard to crossthem, they’re intolerant. “This case, therefore, was important for the INC.
–PAGE 99–
The INC , for its part, looks out after its businesses, mainly the New Era University and its affiliates, and seeks to protect its religious turf. Thus they need allies in government. “They’re more interested in economic power,” explained Fernando Elisterio, an authority on the INC. “They use political power-their voting bloc-to put people in government with goal of keeping their economic power.”
Estimates of INC members vary, from 800,000 to a million. The INC doesn’t release figures on its membership.
–PAGE 161-162–
The Iglesia ni Cristo case highlighted tensions in the exercise of religious speech. When the Board of Review for Motion Pictures and television gave the INC TV program an X rating-not for public viewing because they “offend and constitute an attack against other religion”-the INC brought its case to court. They lost in the trial court, as well as in their appeal. But the Supreme Court, in a decision written by Puno, reversed the Court of Appeals, calling its ruling a prior restraint on speech. “Deeply ensconced in our fundamental law is its hostility against all prior restraints on speech, including religious speech,” wrote Puno.
Moreover, what the appelate court considered “attacks” on other religions were mere “criticisms.” Puno was empathic: “It is not the task of the State to favor any religion by protecting it against an attack by another religion… even if said religion happens to be the most numerous church in our country… The bedrock of freedom of religion is freedom of thought and it is best served by encouraging the marketplace of dueling ideas.”
Similarly, in a case involving another religious group, the archenemy of Iglesia ni Cristo, Puno took the same position. This time, however, his was a voice of dissent. The MTRCB had suspended the preacher Eliseo Soriano from his TV program Ang Dating Daan, because he had used foul words in attacking the host rival show, Ang Tamang Daan.
While Puno said that Soriano’s words were, indeed, “indecent,” he should not have been punished with a three-month suspension because that meant prior restraint on his speech. He pointed other means of recourse for “unprotected” speech such as laws on libel and obscenity.
Sources: Newsbreak.com
Shadow of Doubt by Marites Vitug
