Stop blaming media for Arroyo woes, NPC tells Palace

The National Press Club (NPC) on Friday told Malacañang to stop blaming media for the administration’s woes and instead start facing squarely or doing something real about the charges that have been hurled against the administration. Reacting to pronouncements by Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza blaming media for the “leak" of the alleged plot to assassinate President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the NPC blasted Malacañang for its penchant for always tossing the blame on media. Prestoza, chief of the Presidential Security Group, was reported earlier Friday of laying the blame on media for the reports on the alleged plot of Muslim extremists to assassinate the President and launch attacks. “For the past several months - and even in the years before these latest controversies erupted - Malacañang has committed every possible act it can to manipulate media, castrate media, restrain freedom of expression, impose prior restraint, and arrest members of the media but not face media with truth and candidness," the NPC said. The NPC said that media cannot be cowed and called on its members to remain vigilant and exercise to the full the people’s constitutionally guaranteed right to free expression and information. At the same time, the NPC hailed the decision of the Supreme Court upholding media’s right and responsibility to air the “Hello, Garci" tapes. The NPC called the SC decision voiding an order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission and the Justice department warning media against airing the recordings of alleged wiretapped conversations on cheating in the 2004 presidential polls as “another triumph for press freedom and civil liberties." “Once again, the High Court has placed civil liberties to its rightful place in a democracy," the NPC said. - GMANews.TV