President Duterte believed in freedom of speech, according to Malacañang.
On Tuesday, Malacañang said that President Rodrigo Duterte believed in freedom of speech and has not filed libel complaints against his critics.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement that President Duterte believed in freedom of speech and a free marketplace of ideas and the President has demonstrated this in his entire public career.
Roque added that President Duterte has not filed a libel case against his critics.
“The President believes in freedom of speech and a free marketplace of ideas, and he has demonstrated this in his entire public career. As a public official, the Chief Executive has not filed a libel case against his critics,” Roque said.
Malacañang made a statement in reaction to the June 2021 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey which showed that 45 percent of adult Filipinos believed that broadcasting or publishing criticisms against President Duterte was dangerous.
GMA News Online reported that the Social Weather Stations used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide for its survey, with 300 each in Balance Luzon, NCR, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
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In addition, Roque noted that the SWS survey also showed improvement of net personal freedom of President Duterte which increased from +5 in May 2021 to +18 in June 2021.
“The President simply focuses on his work with the welfare of the Filipinos foremost in his mind,” Roque said.
It was last year when ABS-CBN went off the air following the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) order for it to cease operations. The media company’s shutdown affected the jobs of its 11,000 workers.
Malacañang, meanwhile, continued to deny that President Duterte had a hand in the shutdown even as the President continued to throw tirades against the media company.
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