Filipinos have nothing to fear regarding the exercise of free speech in the country, according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
Roque said the freedom of expression remained a constitutionally protected right of every Filipino, adding the administration continued to respect such freedom.
A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey earlier showed majority of Filipinos found it dangerous to be critical of the Duterte administration.
"Well, sa akin po, wala pong dapat magkaroon ng alinlangan ang mga tao sa pag-i-exercise ng kanilang karapatan na malayang pananalita dahil iyan po ay garantisado ng ating Saligang Batas (The public has nothing to worry about the exercise of their freedom of expression because that is guaranteed under our Constitution),” Roque said during a televised press briefing Thursday, March 19.
"Ang Presidente naman po bilang isang abogado ay sumumpa na ipatutupad ang ating Saligang Batas kasama na po iyong tinatawag na Bill of Rights (The President, a lawyer, has sworn to implement the Constitution including the Bill of Rights)," he said.
When asked if media entities could publish or broadcast reports without suffering the same fate as ABS-CBN and Rappler, Roque denied the President's involvement in the latest predicament of the two media companies.
He claimed that the Securities and Exchange Commission, not the President, found Rappler supposedly violated the country's prohibition on foreign ownership of mass media. ABS-CBN network, on the other hand, was forced to stop broadcast after its franchise lapsed last year, he pointed out.
"Tanging Kongreso lang po ang pupuwedeng magbigay ng ganiyang prangkisa at hindi po ang Presidente (The franchise can only be given by Congress, not the President),” Roque said about the network’s fate.
In the survey conducted last November, 65 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement that it was "dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical of the administration even if it is the truth." At least 18 percent were undecided while 16 percent disagreed with such statement.