Survey results can be published — Supreme Court

The Supreme Court (SC) granted yesterday a joint petition by a Manila-based national newspaper and a survey firm to allow the publication of poll survey results even in the final days before elections.

Voting 7-5, the High Tribunal declared as unconstitutional a provision of the Fair Election Law (Republic Act 9006) which the Commission on Elections (Comelec) submitted to substantiate its opposition to the petition.

RA 9006 bans newspapers from publishing poll survey results 15 days before national elections and one week before local polls.

The 14-page ruling written by Justice Vicente Mendoza stated that the provision "constitutes an unconstitutional abridgment of freedom of speech, expression and the press."

"Because of the preferred status of the constitutional rights of speech, expression and the press, such a measure is vitiated by a weighty presumption of invalidity," the decision said.

The SC maintained that the assailed provision violates the freedom of the press because it imposes "prior restraint and therefore, a direct and total suppression of a category of expression even for a limited period."

Government lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General admitted that the provision was a form of censorship, but argued it may be allowed because of its limited duration aimed at preventing manipulated surveys and the subsequent bandwagon effect.

"To sustain the ban on the publication of survey results would sanction the censorship of all speaking by candidates in an election on the ground that the usual bombasts and hyperbolic claims made during the campaigns can confuse the voters and thus debase the electoral process," the SC said.

Noting that the political ad ban has been lifted, the tribunal also said the assailed law in effect shows a bias by preferring personal opinion to statistical results.

"Praiseworthy as these aims of the regulations are, they cannot be attained at the sacrifice of the fundamental right of expression. Can these be legitimately prohibited by suppressing the publication of survey results which are a form of expression?" the SC asked.

Meanwhile, former Press Secretary Ricardo "Dong" Puno Jr. urged journalists to be more vigilant against attempts by pro-administration quarters to suppress press freedom.

Puno, who is seeking a Senate seat in the May 14 elections, said press freedom is a constitutionally guaranteed right that should never be curtailed.

"A free press nourishes our democracy," Puno said during a visit to the National Press Club (NPC) on Friday night, along with Rod Reyes, also a former Press Secretary and a candidate for the congressional seat of Parañaque City.

Both are lifetime members of the NPC.

Puno, himself a columnist and broadcast journalist, vowed to push measures seeking to provide more benefits and ensure the security of tenure of journalists.

He said he would propose the grant of insurance and hazard pay for journalists given dangerous assignments. "Media establishments should make this a standard practice," he said. –Delon Porcalla