By MIKHA FLORES
A candidate may invoke his right to reply over a news report published or aired against him, but he may not be given a chance to reply, a Commission on Elections official said.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the right to reply, although provided for in the Fair Elections Act and its implementing rules, is not automatically granted to a complainant and will still go through the process as laid down in the rules.
Under the present rules, a candidate may invoke the right to reply by submitting a formal claim against the media organization to Comelec either through its Education and Information Department (EID) or field officers.
Comelec will then endorse the complaint to the media outlet involved. The media organization must, within 24 hours, submit a report to Comelec on the action it has taken to address the claim.
“When we are given the letter from a candidate, we will give it to (the media organization) and then they will tell us their side of the story,” Jimenez said. Comelec will then decide whether to grant the request from the candidate.
“There will be this mechanism by which the candidate will be able to tell us that they feel aggrieved. There is no guarantee, at this point, that the solution or the outcome will be as they desire,” he added.
Resolution 9615, the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9006 or the Fair Elections Act, empowers the EID to implement the provision.
It is an improvement over the past elections when the right to reply was considered as a “motherhood statement,” according to Jimenez. “Right now, we put a procedure in there. That’s the main difference.”
The reply, if approved, will be given “the same prominence or in the same page or section or in the same time slot” as the published news report against the candidate.
Jimenez said the provision is really about giving the candidates an opportunity to respond.
“At this point, it is really giving the candidates the opportunity to officially and formally declare that they…should be given the opportunity to reply,” he said.
Jimenez added it’s still early to identify which kinds of reports will need a reply.
“At this point, hindi natin masasabi for sure kung ano yung iga-grant at hindi kasi it would all depend on the merits (At this point, we cannot say for sure which requests will be granted because it would all depend on the merits),” he said.
The Comelec spokesperson sees no problem in the right to reply issue with national media. He said he is more concerned with the local media.
“This is more of a problem that we would associate with local practices. That’s what we’re looking at,” he said.
GMA Network Inc. has opposed the right to reply provision of Comelec.
In a letter addressed to Comelec, the network asked to be given “leeway” to determine on its own which issues are newsworthy enough to be aired on its programs.
“With all due respect, GMA has garnered 50 years of experience and expertise to know when it is necessary to air the other side and to correct itself in the event of an erroneous report,” the letter said.
The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas said the provision is “unconstitutional” since it “impinges on the editorial prerogative of the media.”