A strange thing has happened two times these past few weeks at the Dumaguete City Council. A lady councilor is hell-bent on preventing a broadcaster from observing sessions of the City Council because she doesn’t like the guy.
Councilor Lani Ramon is angry at broadcaster Edmund Sestoso because of his stinging commentaries against her over his radio program. She claims that Sestoso has issued threats — possibly death threats — against her person.
Ramon has sponsored a resolution to bar Sestoso from the Session Hall — a move that was rejected by her fellow City Councilors.
Vice Mayor Woodrow Maquiling said the Council has no right to bar anyone from entering the Session Hall because it is a public building.
Not content with the decision of the Council, and with the explanation of Vice Mayor Maquiling, Councilor Ramon went on to ask for a Barangay Protection Order (BPO) in a bid to keep Sestoso away from her — to include the City Council Session Hall.
There was a move to enforce the BPO in last Wednesday’s session, where a policeman was called to bodily carry Sestoso away. Again, this move backfired as Vice Mayor Maquiling and the other Councilors intervened.
Councilor Ramon, for all her good attributes, appears to have allowed her anger to overshadow her intelligence.
The fact that her attempt to bar Sestoso from the City Council was thwarted once should have been a humbling learning experience. But no, she went on to further shoot herself on the other foot.
We sympathize with Councilor Ramon. It is not easy to be on the listening end of harsh criticism and threats from a radio commentator. But public officials should know there have been several Supreme Court decisions that put public officials at a disadvantage from fair criticisms of journalists. Public officials, after all, should not be onion-skinned.
There are, as the saying goes, many ways to kill a cat, but barring a journalist from a public place is not one of them. Neither is a barangay protection order, which is normally granted to a woman and/or her child who is physically, psychologically, sexually, or economically abused by her spouse or lover. If Sestoso were simply a hard-hitting commentator, it may have been ill-advised of the complainant to seek a BPO.
There are legal remedies for people who think broadcasters have gone beyond their limits. Some broadcasters in Dumaguete have been charged of libel or oral defamation in the courts, and some charges have resulted in a favorable verdict for the complainant.
We hope the good councilor will follow this procedure, and allow the law to take its course.
Otherwise, all radio sets have that On/Off knobs anyway. We suggest that for those who can not stand criticism to simply turn off their radio sets.
