Polytechnic University of the Philippines

College of Communication

Department of Communication Research

Theory Essay. 3

The Issues of Freedom of Expression in the 21st Century

Yopyop, Hanna Jemima G.

BACR 2-1

Advance Communication Theory

Prof. Kriztine R. Viray

April 2015

Abstract:

The vigorous distinction on how people response on a certain issues or phenomena changes. In

lined with this, people percieved the idea of others as acceptable and relevant to human knowlegde. A lot

of concern founded with freedom of expression has take place and many of it has been questioned.

Freedom of expression and free speech is a political right allowing the people to communicate or to critic

others opinions, idea. Freedom of expression strongly dealt with the citizen nowadays, it is on its red line

to re-examine it’s advocacy. It is therefore, necessary to have a better knowledge of the right to express

and the issues that tested it. Using a descriptive survey that to describe or to explain the phenomena the

researcher randomly select the respondents to review closely their perceived knowlegde and opinions

about the issues disccused to support the concept of the present research.

Abstrak:

Ang dynamikong pagbabago ay nagaganap sa kung paano ang tao ay nag-iisip at nagaanalitika ng

isang isyu o pangyayari. Kaugnay dito, ang mga tao sa panibagong panahon ay nakadipende sa ideya at

pananaw ng iba at ito ang kanilang pinaniniwalaang tama. Maraming isyu na kaugnay sa Malayang

pagpapahayag ang nasusubok. Ang malayang pagpapahayag at malayang pagsasalita ay isang kaparatang

politikal na naglalayon ng malayang talastasan, pagkikritika ng opinyon at ideya ng walang inaapakang

karapatan. Sa kabilang dako, mapaka-inam na magkaroon ng kasampatang kaalaman ukol sa malayang

pagpapahayag at sa mga isyu na kaugnay dito. Gamit ang diskriptibong sarbey ang manaliksik ay

malayang pumili ng tala upang malaman at masubok ang kanilang kaalaman ukol sa malayang

pagpapahahayag at maging sa mga kaalaman na maiuugnay sa malayang pagpapayag upang mabigyang

diin ang konsepto ng kasalukuyang pananaliksik.

Keywords:

Freedom of Expression, Academic Rights, Free speech, Press freedom

Introduction:

Article 3 Section 4 of the 1987 Philippines Constitution stated “No law shall be passed abridging

the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and

petition the government for redress of grievances.”

Tae-Hoon Park, in his speech to the UN General Assembly said that “The right to freedom of

expression is of paramount importance in any democratic society.” The Republic of the Philippines is a

democratic state. That’s why its a big issue to tackle when the free speech and the freedom of expression

tested.

According to Harry Roque’s Blog (retrieved from http://harryroque.com/tag/freedom-of-

expression/ April 2015) The value of the freedom of expression is to protect the unpopular speech. The

right to express is the right to acclaim no security. The importance of the awareness of the citizen about

their right to express remains crucial, many knows about having the priviledge to express but almost

dosen’t know the limitations.

The importance of the freedom of expression is that, it is the key for fighting the rights of the

people per se, it is also a basic principle of a democratic nation. Stated on the Article 19 of the Universal

Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;

this right includes the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart

information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” From this there’s a guarantee of a

right to speak, to write, to express and to use different form of media and art.

The research was conducted to gain the public opinion on freedom of expression in the 21st

Century and their perceived knowledge on the issues presented.

The researcher opted to pursue this study to give enlightenment and to raise the level of

awareness of the readers concerning the crucial and the paramount advocacy of the freedom of expression

to the citizen.

Objectives:

To fully comprehend the case regarding the phenomena, the researcher seeks to find out:

To know the awareness and the understanding of the respondents about Article 3 Section 4

Freedom of Expression

To asses the respondents’ notion of “Freedom of Expression in 21st century: at threat or not”

How might their awareness level and understanding affect their opinion and reaction about the

Phenomenal issues in lined with the freedom of expression.

The Phenomena:

Freedom of expression is a basic law of human right. The right to express have its limitations, it

is approved by both International Law and National Constitution to have its constraint that regards to

boundary. Freedom of expression and its limitations are battle among Filipinos’ to equalize both, this is a

subject why many have failed in expressing opinions and thoughts. Freedom of expression is a right

however it also consider the rights and reputation of others and it shall also consider the moral and

protection of the nation.

There are Phenomenal issues that test the right to express in the Philippines. The Phenomenal

issues that create a huge impact to the country to be discussed are: Carlos Celdran the one who raise a

placard ‘DAMASO’ during a mass in Manila Cathedral, Another is the Viral video of the salutatorian

speech of Krisel Mallari that was interrupted by its school officials, and the last is, the controvesial Pugad

Baboy strip that questioning the hypocisy of the Catholic churches on lesbianism in All-girls Catholic

School.

The Carlos Celdran ‘DAMASO’ issue

In September 2010, Manila Cathedral, Carlos Celdran a pro-Reproductive health bill, dressed like

Jose Rizal interrupted a Ecumenical prayer while raising a placard ‘Damaso’ and shouting “You bishops,

stop involving yourself in politics”. The said protest aim to tell the Catholic Church to stay away from the

politics on the issue regarding RH Bill that was passed into a law.

Celdran was charged and convicted by violating the Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code:

“anyone who, in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of any religious ceremony,

shall perform acts notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful.”

"I am calm but I am going to fight this till the end. This issue has become more than just about

me or the Damaso protest at this point. Freedom of speech is now under threat for ALL Filipinos,"

said Celdran (http://www.rappler.com/nation/20596-carlos-celdran-found-guilty-of-

%E2%80%9Coffending-religious-feelings )

Human Rights Watch said “This is a setback for free speech in the Philippines, which prides itself

on being a democracy. This verdict should be reversed. Nobody should be jailed for voicing out an

opinion or position, especially on a subject that concerns the lives of millions of Filipino women and

mothers.”

As Celdran mentioned in his statement that “Freedom of speech is now under threat for ALL

Filipinos”. is freedom of speech is at treat? Offending the religous feeling is contrary to freedom of

expression but what he just did is his right to express his thought telling the bishops to stop involving

themselves in the issue of RH Bill. This is a good example of a freedom of expression having its

limitation. Celdran exercising his freedom of expression without considering the Article 133 which is

offending the religious feelings.

The appropriate theory to tackle the issue is Uses and Gratification Theory.

Uses and Gratification Theory by J. Blumler and E. Katz (1974) suggest that the people takes a

vital role in choossing and using the media to gain knowlegde and to satisfy themselves from the need of

information.

In the issue of Celdran, the people have the information about the issue, thus they only use

information which satisfy their thoughts and opinion. All data and information that the media consumers

gain is filtered by themselves and get only the information they need and the rest is thrown away.

The issue have two sides, the side of Carlos Celdran and the side of the Catholic Churches. The

Philippines is known as a Christian Nation, the point is, many media consumers even they are in favor of

RH bill tend to take the side of the Catholic Church for they think that it is just. The judgement they make

is the party they sided.

The people choose what they are going to media, not what media can do to them, this theory

focuses on judgement of the media consumer made based on the decision that satisfies their need.

The Salutatorian Speech of Krisel Mallari

The youth are aggressive nowadays, choose making adventures rather studying, the reason why

many young people nowadays do not understand the difference of attacking a truth and attacking the right

of others. Youth are too lazy of rational thinking, they are too dependent on how they feel. They always

think that they are correct without taking the side of another.

Freedom of speech means of freely spreading the ideas and thoughts even criticizing others

opinion, like freedom of expression, freedom of speech have limitations too. Last March 2015 a viral

video of a salutatorian spread on social media. In the video, the school authorities interrupted to stop

Krisel Mallari, the salutatorian from speaking.

"Panuntunan ng paaralan na lahat ng talumpati ay kailangang aprubahan. Sinabihan si Krisel

Mallari na kapag ito’y kanyang nilabag, hindi siya papayagan sa kanyang talumpati" Sto. Niño Parochial

School (SNPS) said in a statement. While the said speech she delivered was not the speech she submitted

and approved by her teachers, this is why the school authorities stop her and also for the reason that the

speech was not appropriate as a “Welcome Remarks”.

The other issue is that Mr. Mallari, father of Krisel plead to see the grade of her daughter and the

valedictorian which was not permissible of the school administration. The grading procedure in Public

High Schools are not only dependent on the curricular activities, the school also credit the extra-curricular

grades of the aspiring honor students. Also the teacher has a right in grading system as stated on Section

11.3 of the Education Act that “Teachers shall be deemed persons in authority when in the discharge of

lawful duties and responsibilities, and shall, therefore, be accorded due respect and protection.” And also

the transparancy of the grades are Under the Education Act of 1982 “it is prohibited by law to release

grades of any student except to the student or the parents if a minor.”

The Department of Education investigated the said issue, DepEd secretary Umali said on a

statement with regards of the controversy "We shall always respect the rights of our students to freely

express their thoughts and feelings in light of existing laws and the provision of the Constitution and in a

manner and forum that is appropriate"

In this case Krisel is not only the victim, the issue have three sides to examine, the sides are

Krisel, the Valedictorian and the School. In the issue like this the truth will not be seen if the focus is on

the alleged victim. According to Bruce Villafuerte Rivera a lawyer in a commentary post “Schools are

substitute parents to its students. They are bound to protect the rights of every student. They stopped

Krisel from making her speech not because they intended to suppress any information but because they

also want to protect the reputation of the valedictorian whose achievement would be placed in doubt by

her insinuations.”

The appropriate theory to disccussed this issue are: Agenda-Setting Theory and Expectancy

Value Theory.

Agenda-Setting Theory was created by M. McCombs and D.L Shaw (1972) that suggest that by

using media, it sets the public belief. In this theory it focuses on the Media will not tell you what you’re

gonna think rather Media will give the issues to be think about.

Krisel Mallari is a good example of this theory, giving to much focus on the things you think can

help you succeed leading you to the things that are not according to the goal you set. Krisel focus on

herself being a valedictorian without concerning her opponent. The issue on Krisel, the people do not tend

to reflect, instead they give meaning to what action she did. Because the media give the side of Krisel, the

public thinks that she was the victim of the wrong system of the school. The media do not reflect on the

issues but they’re the one who set the agenda to shape it and to filter it for the media consumer.

The Expectancy Value Theory was founded by Martin Fishbein (‘70s) the subject of this theory is

the expectations, beliefs and values affects the changing of the bahavior depending on what is the

outcome of the expectation.

There are two sides of Krisel’s story that suitable for the theory, the one is on the expectation of

Krisel parents that Krisel will be the batch valedictorian. And the other one is Krisel expectation that she

will be the batch valedictorian. People react according to their acquired beliefs. They positively or

negatively respond to the success or failure of their expectation.

In this theory probably believes on the saying “what you believe you can do is, what you think

you will become” as we try to believe to the things we expect to come true it may be positive or negative,

we are acting according to our expectation. For example, Krisel believes there is a manipulation of grades

in her school, the impact of the beliefs affects the attitude she acted on the commencement exercise.

The Pugad Baboy controversial comic strip

Pugad Baboy was a renown comic strip that provides humor and relevant source of social

commentary for over 20 years. The comic strip was created by Pol Medina Jr. probably the one of the

most popular cartoonist in the country. The strip was serving the public since 1988 having its alliance

with the newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer the bravest newspaper in 1980’s.

Pugad Baboy is known because of it’s bravery in discussing political issues. Back in June 2013, a

controversial strip of Pugad Baboy was published, it discussed about the Lesbianism in All-girls Catholic

School. The strip went controversial because of the given name of the school which make the school take

action to give the PDI a letter threating to file a lawsuit against the newspaper which also the cause of the

suspension of Pugad Baboy comic strip to publish again for the newspaper.

As stated on a commentary blog post of Harry Roque a lawyer activist that “comic strips have

always been considered protected speech. Even if patently offensive to some, it has been protected as a

form of parody and satire which have been accepted as legitimate inputs to the free market place of

ideas.” Eventhough a comic strip is a protected speech but it confromises the limitations of freedom of

expression. Any news that tackles any political, religious and controversial issues will gather violent

reaction, it is just that the strip aren’t free from controversy.

As the researcher try to get Pol Medina Jr. (PM Jr.) side about this issue through Facebook chat,

he just said that “Anything is a fair game sa cartoons ko. I just try not to overstep the bounderies of good

taste. Charlie Hebdo did just that” Charlie hebdo is a French cartoonist who has been a target for a long

time because of his political drawings. He was killed minutes after he tweeted a cartoon of ISIS leader

Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi “Best wishes, and good health”as the caption. PM Jr. just like Charlie hebdo draw

for the public with humor. PM Jr. as cartoonist in a public newspaper knows his limitations. As i scan

through his cartoons, i know he is a pro-truth just not wanting to be seen as unethical journalist. His

drawing have hidden meaning for the readers to think about.

Any media censorship puts the Freedom of expression at threat. If censorship tend only to filter

the news it is ethical however if censorship make the truth hidden it is unethical for the editors for not

letting it to publish. As for the researcher even if the truth hurts and if it will not creat a public chaos it

should be approved to publish. As the gathered data of the researcher about the issue, stated that Pol

Medina Jr. simply pointing out the hypocrisy commited by others.

The theory that can relate to the issue this issue is Hypodermic Neddle Theory.

Hypodermic Neddle Theory founded by Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) tells that, there is an impact

of direct and powerful media in the audiences. The theory tackles that the influence will be made to the

audiences by directly injecting them the messages causes to happen the need feedback.

In the issue the controversial strip of Pugad Baboy shake the pulse of the media consumers. What

PM Jr. did was he just set the ice-breaker and let the people think if what he said was true. The injected

information to the people to have the desired response and he get it. As the St. Scho try to file a lawsuit

the issue was still on, the injected information to people will not be taken away. People will seek the truth

until they get the satisfaction.

The result:

The survey was given ramdomly in the city of Mandaluyong. From the randomly selected

respondents, the reseachers choose informants according to the awareness and understanding to the topic.

The pre-survey is composed of 6 questions that test their awareness and understanding about the

issues in line with the topic.

Table 1. Awareness and understanding about issues on Freedom of Expression in the Philippines (Krisel

Mallari, Carlos Celdran, Pol Medina Jr.)

Male Female Frequency

Aware 1 7 40%

Not Aware 4 8 60%

Total 8 12 20 or 100%

The reseacher did not reach the expectation that all of the respondents have the understanding

about the issues in line with the topic.

With this, 8 respondents remain to give follow-up questions with regards to attitudes and actions

made in the issues tackled.

Table 2 The questions will assess the perception of the respondents according to the 3 issues tackled in

the present research.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6

res1 Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

res2 No No Yes Yes Yes No

res3 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes

res4 Yes No No Yes No No

res5 Yes No No Yes Yes No

res6 Yes No No Yes Yes Yes

res7 Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

res8 Yes No No Yes Yes Yes

Total 8 8 8 8 8 8

In the Q1 majority of the respondents agree that they excercise their right to express. In Q2 they

do not agree that the place where they do the action is not proper. In Q3 the respondents is divided into

two whereas it talks about the consideration of the right to express. In Q4 all of the respondents agree that

they do what they think is proper to do. In Q5 Majority of the respondents said that they stepped on others

rights. And the last, Q6 majority said that the authority have the right to stop them if proven they

attacking the rights of others.

Conclusion:

As i am writting this theory essay 3, i find the importance of freedom of expression. Truly the

most powerful tool is not a pen, nor a war tool but a word passing through thy mouth. As a

communication research student it is necessary to fill all the knowledge gap about the issues scoping the

communication fandom. Freedom of expression is an important tool for spreading the words of truth.

Freedom of expression was created for the sake of the truth and for the sake of the people. It should be

used not by self-will but by truth-will.

Media in the 21st was the more challenging era of communication, media cersorship is for

filtering the uneccessary information that may affect the country it should be not used as a hiding place of

truth. Freedom of expression is a most part of being tested, we are now living in the most aggressive days,

we never experience thid before, no one can stop the people from speaking and from thinking, make

every judgements as facticity as possible. Using the freedom to express in the 21st century means a lot,

there are pro-truth and con-truth, fill all the gap from knowing the truth. There will be millions of issues

which Freedom of expression will face.

You have the right to express, use it properly, spread the truth.

References:

Retrieved from https://freedomhouse.org/issues/freedom-expression#.VR-wrPyUdPE April 4, 2015Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/680952/tudent-group-lauds-salutatorian-krisel-mallari-for-speaking-vs-injustice April 3, 2015

Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/balikbayan/voices/88247-krisel-speech-disturb-peace April 4, 2015

Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/11438888/_Sensitivity_and_Free_Speech_in_Blueprint_the_Termly_Journal_of_Oxford_University_Conservative_Association_-_Hilary_Term_2015 April 2, 2015

Retrieved from http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Alphabetic%20list%20of%20theories/ April 4, 2015

Retrieved from http://harryroque.com/tag/freedom-of-expression/ April 2, 2015Retrieved from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/312165/lifestyle/literature/artists-group-pugad-baboy-censorship-a-threat-to-freedom-of-expression April 4, 2015Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/nation/20596-carlos-celdran-found-guilty-of-%E2%80%9Coffending-religious-feelings%E2%80%9D April 5, 2015

Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/348713/celdran-found-guilty-in-damaso April 4, 2015

Retrieved from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/292332/news/metromanila/church-critic-carlos-celdran-convicted-for-raising-damaso-sign-in-cathedral April 4, 2015

Retrieved from https://cegpcordillera.wordpress.com/tag/international-freedom-of-expression-exchange/ April 2, 2015