(SEAPA/IFEX) – On 13 March 2006, a Quezon City judge apparently denied a request by the politically-connected sound engineer Jonathan Tiongco for a warrant to search the offices of The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), a founding member of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA). Swift coverage and concerted pressure by Philippine journalists appears […]
(SEAPA/IFEX) – On 13 March 2006, a Quezon City judge apparently denied a request by the politically-connected sound engineer Jonathan Tiongco for a warrant to search the offices of The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), a founding member of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA).
Swift coverage and concerted pressure by Philippine journalists appears to have thwarted the move, the PCIJ said. The group also noted that the citizen behind the warrant request has known ties to top Philippine officials.
Sources in the lower courts alerted PCIJ as to how, on the afternoon of 13 March, three policemen, accompanied by Tiongco, asked Quezon City Judge Alan Balot to issue a warrant allowing the police to search the PCIJ office. Tiongco is the same sound engineer presented by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s current chief of staff (then environment secretary), Michael Defensor, to the media in 2005. Tiongco’s expert opinion was then used in an effort to discredit audio recordings that suggested Arroyo had cheated her way to the presidency.
Defensor denied any knowledge of Tiongco’s renewed petition for a search warrant against PCIJ. Tiongco’s first attempt to obtain this search order on 10 March reportedly was denied by another city judge.
Alerted by the PCIJ to the warrant request, journalists from various media organizations waited outside Balot’s office while the hearing for the search warrant started late in the afternoon. PCIJ said it was not able to confirm whether Judge Balot granted the request, but some court sources said that the presence of journalists in front of his office at the very least has delayed his action.
The PCIJ was unable to get a copy of the charge sheet, but its lawyers believe that the case is linked to the one filed by Tiongco against the PCIJ in late 2005. In that case, filed before the Department of Justice, Tiongco said that the PCIJ should be charged with inciting to sedition for publishing online the controversial “Hello, Garci” tapes that brought the Arroyo government to its worst crisis in 2005.
The tape allegedly contained wiretapped conversations between former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and several officials, possibly including Arroyo. The recordings galvanized public perception that Arroyo had cheated in the last presidential elections.
Tiongco alleged that the posting of the audio recordings led the opposition to call for the president’s resignation and impeachment, and that it encouraged civil society groups to hold rallies against the president. This was tantamount to inciting to sedition, he said.
