Malacañang said the media in the country continues to be alert and vibrant in reporting about the government and the actions of officials as it reiterated that it respects press freedom and free speech.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after the Social Weather Stations (SWS) July 2020 National Mobile Phone Survey showed that 51 percent of Filipinos believe that it is now dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical about the government even if it is the truth.
In a statement, Roque said Malacañang continues to respect the role of the media and their freedom to report about the government and its officials.
“The Duterte administration continues to respect the freedom of the speech and the freedom of the press in the country. No single libel case has been filed by President Duterte against the political opposition,” he said.
“Media remains alert and vibrant in their reportage of the government and the actions of officials,” he added.
Roque said that the result of the survey turned out that way because the study was conducted at the time when the public was awaiting the fate of ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal.
The survey was conducted from July 3 to 6, a week before the House of Representatives made their decision on the ABS-CBN broadcast franchise on July 10.
“Surveys, as we often said, reflect the opinions of the respondents at the time the data were gathered,” he said.
“Information and news dominating the traditional and social media are therefore about the congressional hearings on the broadcast franchise application of the network. This might have impressed upon the minds of the respondents who participated in the survey,” he added.
A previous SWS poll revealed that 56 percent of Filipinos agreed that the shutdown of ABS-CBN was a “major blow” to press freedom. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)