Talk it out: judge urges dialogue over libel cases

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Resolving disputes before they reach the courts should become the norm, with greater dialogue between the media and the judiciary serving as a key mechanism to promote accountability and responsible journalism, a court official said.

Judge Jennie Ann Logronio, court manager of the Sixth Judicial Region, said the justice sector is increasingly shifting its focus toward preventing conflicts from reaching the courts.

“The trend now is no longer going to court. All efforts are prior to the filing of a case because that would mean we have exhausted everything, so disputes no longer reach the courts,” she said.

Logronio was the keynote speaker at the “Press Forward: Elevating Accountability, Dispute Resolution, and Mediation in Iloilo Media” symposium in Iloilo City on Tuesday, June 30.

The symposium, organized by the Iloilo Media-Citizen Council (IMCC) and the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), gathered journalists, editors, lawyers, judges, members of academia, civil society organizations, and business groups from the Visayas region to strengthen accountability and mediation mechanisms within the local media community.

Logronio said prevention and enforcement should complement each other in addressing legal disputes over media reporting.

She explained that prevention involves creating opportunities for dialogue to identify problems before they worsen, while enforcement remains necessary to hold violators accountable when laws are broken.

“Here we have bench and bar dialogue, and this one with the press is one of those milestones that before we reach the court where the issue has gotten worse, we try to plant seeds that prevention and enforcement go hand in hand,” she said.

“If we only focus on prevention without enforcing the law when violations occur, people may no longer take the rules seriously,” she added.

Logronio emphasized that the judiciary and the media, despite having different mandates, ultimately pursue the same goal of serving the public.

One of the continuing challenges, she said, is balancing the public’s right to know with the fair administration of justice, particularly in libel and cyberlibel cases.

“The keyword is balancing interests and shared responsibility between the media and the courts,” Logronio said.

She encouraged both sectors to move beyond institutional “silos” and understand each other’s roles and challenges.

“Let’s not be confined in our own silos because through dialogue we will be able to understand the experiences of each other […] Sometimes conflict and misunderstanding arise because we have different perspectives,” she said.

She likened the justice system and the media to an assembly line in which every institution plays a vital role.

“If one part fails, the next step no longer works properly, and the final product is affected,” she said.

Joyce Babe Pañares, PPI trustee and training director, highlighted the role of Media-Citizen Councils (MCCs) as community-based mechanisms for accountability and alternative dispute resolution.

She said the councils address ethical complaints against the media while also providing support when journalists face threats.

“MCCs are more than just a club, more than just a discussion group. Functional, growing, and most importantly, wanted by their own communities. Our MCCs give us hope that journalism as a pillar of democracy remains critically relevant,” she said.

Jeremy Bionat, executive director and legal counsel of the IMCC, said mediation and dialogue have become even more important as technological advances have complicated the prosecution of libel and cyberlibel cases.

“This is very important, especially on the administration of our justice system as we journey with the new trends today because when we say libel, it is very easy to prosecute, but now the system has become so complicated with the modern technology that it is not easy to obtain justice if you are a complainant of a libel or a cyberlibel,” he said.

Libel in the Philippines is punishable under the Revised Penal Code, while online defamation falls under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, or Republic Act No. 10175, which the Supreme Court upheld as constitutional in 2014. Press freedom advocates have long sought to decriminalize libel, arguing that criminal penalties can be wielded to harass journalists.

The IMCC, launched in 2023, was created to provide a self-regulatory, multi-stakeholder mechanism for media accountability and complaint resolution.