FALSE: Cory Aquino’s libel suit vs Beltran was not deemed press freedom issue

Claim: Former president Corazon Aquino’s libel suit against the late journalist Luis Beltran was not regarded as a press freedom issue.

In October 1987, the former president filed a libel suit against Luis Beltran for writing that she “hid under her bed” during a mutiny in August 1987. Beltran was convicted in October 1992, but the Court of Appeals later reversed the decision.

On the day of the cyber libel conviction of Rappler CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa and former Rappler researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr, former Cavite representative Gilbert Remulla tweeted: “When Cory Aquino, as president, successfully sued Louie Beltran for libel, I don’t recall anyone in the media calling it the ‘death of press freedom’ or the ‘death of democracy.’ Of course, she was an Aquino.” The tweet, which gained at least 1,800 retweets and 4,300 likes as of writing, was also reposted on Facebook by several users.

A post by the Facebook page DU30 MEDIA Network from February 2019 is also being reshared and circulated in light of the conviction of Ressa and Santos. Part of the post’s caption reads: “Corazon Aquino filed a libel case against veteran journalist Louie Beltran. You did not cry about her weaponizing the law against press freedom. Never. Not then. Not now.” The post has 706 reactions, 108 comments, and at least 2,600 shares as of writing.

Similar claims were also made following the verdict, such as one Facebook user who used the same graphic from DU30 MEDIA Network’s post, with the caption: “Pres Cory Aquino sued a revered Filipino journalist Luis Beltran for libel before, no issue. Today a private citizen businessman sued an alien Filipino/American/Indonesian news correspondent Maria Ressa for libel, everybody is howling…Death of Press Freedom, Death of Democracy and President Duterte is a tyrant dictator.”

Meanwhile, one Facebook user said, “Remember Louie Beltran, a brilliant and veteran journalist sued by Cory Aquino, nobody from the media especially from ABS-CBN says it was an attack against freedom of the press or the death of democracy. Now Maria Ressa is convicted everybody from the yellow wing are saying death of press freedom and democracy.”

These posts were spotted by Rappler’s fact check team on social media platforms and monitoring tools CrowdTangle and Claim Check.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Accounts and articles show that the libel suit against Beltran was seen as an attack on press freedom.

Former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication Luis Teodoro wrote in 2003 that Aquino’s suit against Beltran alarmed press freedom groups.

“Coming so soon after the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship, and during the term of someone who had vowed to be Marcos’ exact opposite, the fear was that both the suit itself as well the Beltran conviction would intimidate the media and establish a precedent in which Presidents – armed with such undeniable advantages as their power to appoint judges – would henceforth go after journalists whose work they didn’t like, or whom they just didn’t like, period,” Teodoro said.

He added that this fear resulted in a spate of workshops and seminars on libel law, wherein media groups aimed to broaden journalists’ understanding of libel and find solutions to the perceived potential of the law for harassing dissenting journalists. Libel lawyers also recommended the decriminalization of libel.

The United Press International also published an article in 1992, saying the verdict against Beltran and Philippine Star publisher Maximo Soliven was called by defense lawyers as the “‘blackest day’ in the history of Philippine press freedom.”

An article entitled, “Press Freedom in the Philippines: A Legacy of American colonialism” published in the journal Media Asia in 1991 also stated: “President Aquino was setting a dangerous precedent when she brought her suit against Beltran. If the Philippine press is to continue its rather unique adversarial tradition, it must not be fettered by repressive libel laws that prevent the kind of adversarial journalism Beltran engaged in.”

Another article published in the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars in 1990, entitled, “Politics and the press: The Philippines since Marcos,” cited the libel suit as one of the “documented cases of official censorship.”

University of the Philippines Diliman journalism professor Danilo Arao also tweeted that Remulla’s claim is wrong, saying that the case against Beltran was “roundly criticized as an attack on media.”

 

FOR THE RECORD: Remulla is wrong. Aquino’s libel case against Beltran in 1987 was roundly criticized as an attack on media. I should know. Beltran was a lecturer at UP CMC (then called IMC) where I was a journalism student. Our teachers then devoted a lot of time to discuss this.

— Danilo Arao (@dannyarao) June 15, 2020

Beltran’s daughter Marissa also tweeted about the case, saying there was always opposition to the libel case and that it was definitely a violation of press freedom. “[Although] the manner of opposition was through print media [which] was the only medium then,” she said.

 

My dad’s case vs The ltw Pres Aquino has been resurrected and discussed . Let me say one thing there was always an opposition to the Libel case and definitely violation of PRESS FREEDOM , although the manner of opposition was through print media w/c was the only medium then.

— Marissa Beltran Altamirano (@mbaltamirano) June 16, 2020

Rappler also fact-checked a partly false claim saying the media ownership provision in the 1987 Constitution allowing only Filipinos to own mass media was approved by Aquino. While this provision was in the 1987 Constitution, it was also in the 1973 Constitution ratified under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos. – Loreben Tuquero/Rappler.com

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