Do bloggers need to fear PD 1017?

Could the State of National Emergency declaration stop us from writing stuff of our personal musings in our weblogs? Does this put an end to the happy and opinionated days of pouring our minds out in the articles we so laboured to let others of our kind read? Could our posts be a basis for the police or military to arrest us should it in a way contain our sense of what is happening around us?

That depends.

To cut to the chase, your articles could get your ass in jail should it be proven to directly contain something that could be construed as insurrection or rebellion against the current government.

Still, a question remains. Is saying, "bloggers rule!" tantamount to being interpreted as insurrecton? I don't think so.

A major surge of information is what I got last night from watching television featuring segments on the State of National Emergency declaration, also known as Presidential Proclamation No. 1017. I also realized that Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago came across as being the most credible person in government right now, well at least for me. She answered pertinent questions that all of us must know in a language that could be easily understood by virtually anyone. On warrantless arrests, in a nut shell, she explained how this is already in place even before Proclamation 1017 on certain cases as allowed by the constitution. She stressed that the situation has not changed (personally hearing her talk is several times better than just reading my words so please do look for transcripts or write-ups covering the declaration and do yourself a favor of knowing what it is that's affecting our collective lives as Filipinos in the now). For as long as you are living a normal and peaceful life, you could put that fear of being arrested without reason behind you in the premise of your personal rights as defined and enshrined in the Philippine Constitution.

So far, a lot of people are watching out for us common citizens. In fact, almost everyone is on a look out. For now, we are somewhat assured by our legislators that the freedom of the press, speech, expression, and assembly are in no way curtailed by the declaration of Proclamation 1017.

I'm hoping with you that these rights stay with us for ever.

posted by Fritz @ 12:06 AM