STRAIGHT from the mouth of President Bongbong Marcos himself, expressing his preference for media is critical of his administration.
The president made these remarks before the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).
Marcos Jr. emphasized that his administration would also uphold press freedom.
“The principal role of the press is not to applaud those who govern, but you hold us accountable, without holding back in giving praise to those who deserve it and providing criticism for those who deserve that,” said Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
However, former hosts of the program “Laban Kasama ang Bayan” on SMNI criticized the President’s statement as double standards.
Especially since their program and SMNI itself became victims of suppression under his administration.
“If you’re true to what you’re saying, this is not a declamation contest or oratorical contest but an illegal, abusive, and immoral order from the National Tyrannical Commission (Nat’l Telecommunications Commission) indefinitely suspending SMNI with a valid legally issued franchise until 2044,” exclaimed Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz, Host, SMNI.
SMNI was indefinitely suspended by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
This came after a call from the House of Representatives to suspend the network following Speaker Martin Romualdez’s inquiry into whether his office’s travel funds reached P1.8-B in 2023.
Celiz and fellow program host, former NTF-ELCAC Spokesperson Lorraine Badoy, were both detained in the House during the peak of the SMNI Franchise investigation.
50 years ago, former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was a guest of FOCAP- a manila-based group established to protect press freedom during martial law.
And this year, his son, Marcos Jr., was the guest resource person.
“You know Eric, Atty. Glenn, because he’s emulating his father who was also a fascist. Whose first act was to suppress press freedom. But unfortunately, he doesn’t have the brains of his father. At least with the old Marcos, there was (RIRI) and sort of him? He’s a watered-down version of his Father. He doesn’t even come close to his Father and he has the bloody gall to play the playbook of his father,” said Dr. Lorraine Badoy, Host, SMNI.
During the 2022 elections, SMNI campaigned freely for Marcos Jr. using the network’s nationwide TV and radio coverage.
Also, support came from SMNI’s social media platforms — at a time when no mainstream media was willing to cover then-candidate Marcos Jr.
Currently, SMNI has appealed to the Supreme Court to nullify the NTC’s suspension order.
To nullify SMNI’s franchise law, the corresponding law must be passed.
But even without an enabling law, the state used the NTC’s power to temporarily remove SMNI from the airwaves — the station where former President Rodrigo Duterte’s program airs, openly criticizing and opposing the wrong decisions and actions of the Marcos administration.
