Guidelines for the accreditation of media representatives should not be used to limit Constitutional rights to freedom of speech, expression, and the press, the Supreme Court said.
“Any limitation on the exercise of free speech ‘must be justified on legitimate grounds that are clear and indubitable and with means that are narrowly tailored and only specifically calibrated to achieve those purposes,’” the SC said.
The High Court’s 15-page decision on a petition filed by journalists against a 2011 Customs memo was promulgated in April 2024 but was only made public this month.
“No matter how laudable the objective of respondent in weeding out illegitimate media personalities, the means used to achieve such an objective must not unnecessarily sweep on the rights of legitimate media personalities,” it added.
The Customs Tri-Media Association Inc. and other journalists covering the Bureau of Customs earlier challenged the legality of Customs Memorandum Order No. 37-2011.
The order, in a bid to ensure that only bona fide media professionals were allowed entry, imposed a “no ID, no entry” policy and required that media interviews with Customs officials and employees must be prearranged.
The High Court said there is no need to rule on the constitutionality of the order as it was already repealed in January 2014.
“The express repeal of a statute and the declaration of unconstitutionality produce a similar effect on the subject enactment. The enactment ceases to exist and produces no legal effect,” the High Court said.
Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, however, issued a dissenting opinion, arguing the High Court should have ruled on the constitutionality of the memorandum despite its repeal “to guide the Bench and the Bar, and to avoid its repetition in the near future.” “Information gathering is necessary to journalistic work. When the State hampers this task, it harms the role of the press in a democracy. Any regulation that goes into the content of the press, as in this case, only stifles the exercise of free expression, speech, and of the press,” Leonen said.