Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) chairman Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno on Tuesday, July 7, urged journalists to continue seeking the truth.
(FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“I know this is a trying time for the Philippine press,” the human rights lawyer said in a statement.
“But just keep fighting and keep doing your work to report the truth and inform our people, and we will keep doing our work to defend your rights to do so,” assured the human rights lawyer.
Diokno issued the statement after the libel case against his client, columnist Yolanda Ong, that was filed by former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile had been dismissed by the Supreme Court (SC).
“This is some much-needed good news for Philippine journalists,” said Diokno who noted that Ong received only last July 6 the SC ruling dated February 19.
The libel case stemmed from the Ong’s column titled “Like father, like son?” that was published on Oct. 16, 2012 in the Philippine Star newspaper.
The former senator claimed the column accused him of revising history for the purpose of enticing electorate support for his only son, then Cagayan Rep. Juan Castañer Ponce Enrile Jr., who at that time ran as a senatorial candidate.
The case was dismissed by the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 118 in its decision dated December 29, 2016.
This was later affirmed by the Court of Appeals (CA) in its April 16, 2019 and October 15, 2019 rulings.
Enrile filed a petition for review before the Supreme Court (SC) concerning the CA ruling.
But the SC denied his petition “for failure of petitioner to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals committed any reversible error in the challenged decision and resolution as to warrant the exercise of this Court’s discretionary appellate jurisdiction.”