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Laughable Philippine Supreme Court Ruling on theBench-Only Media Coverage of the Verdict on ex-PresEstrada's Plunder Case

The media coverage of the promulgation on the Plunder case of ex-Philippine PresidentJoseph Estrada was effectively disallowed by the Supreme Court ruling that ridiculously

limited the view of the TV camera to the bench proceedings and ensured that no view of

the defendant was shown to the public.

The much-awaited verdict on Estrada was read September 12, 2007 in the office of the

anti-graft court Sandiganbayan amidst tight security and practically nil "live" media

coverage. Ruling on an appeal, the Supreme Court of the Philippines had earlier grantedthe request of the media organizationKapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP),

but only under ridiculously restrictive conditions. In a decision that played lip service to

"freedom of the press," the high courtthe same body that defended the biased presenceof its chief justice in the EDSA 2 revolution, which toppled Estrada in 2000, as akin to

attending a "party"ruled that the coverage of the Erap verdict be restricted to the bench

reading of the judgment and that the sole television camera be operated by the court'smedia office.

The ruling was a hopelessly and undemocratically ridiculous instance of the suppression

of the freedom of the press and information of the Filipinos. The coverage of the courtproceedings without a view of the former President's countenance during the moment of

promulgation was practically no coverage at all. With this brazenly censoring decision,

the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled to deny the Filipino people the right to

witness, via telecast, the unfolding of a most important moment in the country's history.Why the Joseph Estrada impeachment and the ensuing mutinous EDSA 2 were covered in

sensational full detail, while virtual media censorship applied to the Estrada Plunder casesmacked of a devious political machination by current President Gloria Macapagal-

Arroyo.

The unmistakable inference to draw from this is that an ingloriously beholden PhilippineSupreme Court connived with the highly unpopular Arroyo administration in order to

preclude the anticipated public unfolding of a dramatic "guilty" verdict scenario, and

thus, try to prevent a congruence of sympathies for Estrada. As if indeed a piece in agrand scheme, the anti-graft court actually passed a "guilty" verdict on Estrada for the

count of Plunder. Not surprisingly, the former President's family already expected thedecision, saying a few hours beforehand that they feared for a "political decision" ofconviction for Estrada.

Sober-thinking, patriotic Filipinos can only sigh in frustration, and hope for the timewhen all the virtual media censorship, injustice, imbalanced media, charade of

presidential "legitimacy" amidst national electoral fraud, degenerate leadership,

unparalleled corruption and unprecedented national economic woes will ever end. Until

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the time the Filipinos muster its strengths, uphold its virtues and assert political and

media sanity in order to take the necessary step of rectifying the grievous blunder of

EDSA 2-cum-Arrobo usurpation of Malacanang, the pathetic nation called thePhilippines is unlikely to see the good end of a hellish rule for some time.