Count me in

At the risk of sounding maudlin and sentimental, I add my puny little voice to the growing indignation over Energreen’s decision to sue columnist Modesto Sa-onoy, our Mr. Mods, for libel in Pasig, Metro Manila. I think it is mean and unfair.

This is not to say that I agree with all of Mr. Sa-onoy’s comments on the Energreen issue, I have to confess I need to study it before I will even say anything on it. But I am speaking as a brother in profession (maybe, his son considering our age differences. LoL).

Seriously, though, it is mean for Energreen to haul Mr. Saonoy to a court for which he will surely find physical difficulty in doing, in Pasig to which he has now to travel for every hearing.At the very least, it is going to inconvenience him. If I know Mr Mods, he will not mind the difficulty and will even refuse to complain.

But if Energreen wants us to believe it is going for the libel suit for justice, it has no reason to press it in far-away Pasig; it can find it here locally. If libel was committed, it was committed most obviously hereabouts, and so the question for justice should be done here.

Let me be very clear about another thing as well. By coming to the side of Mr. Mods, I am not saying writers and mediamen should be immune from libel and other suits. As purveyors of public opinion, they should be fair game, and be ready to defend themselves. As I always point out, for our democracy to work, we have all the right to say what we want to say, within he just parameters of good taste and, yes, libel. We even have the right to look like fools.

But I think, like every citizen of this Republic, we have all the right to demand a fair and even playing field, especially in the question of whether we have kept to the requirements of good taste and libel in our jobs such as what Energreen wants to settle in its case against Mr. Mods.

Count me in. Count me in in the long quest for justice, not just for Energreen but especially for Mr. Mods. I don’t think he will allow all those years as a writer to end up with a libel conviction. I sure hope, and I know many others hope too, for Mr. Mods to continue writing about the issue as we try to find our way to the truth.

We need Mr. Mods to continue writing to guide us, the Johnnies-come-lately in this conversation. First question: What is in this company and its contract that six of our directors in the Central Negros Electric Company have given them all the leeway as to when it can start delivering power?

To our simple and ordinary mind, Ceneco is the buyer. One would think it has all power to demand when it gets what it is buying. One would think it now has all he reasons to repudiate somebody who failed to deliver at the time agreed on. But no, Energreen has been given the privilege of an extension. For what reasons, this should be interesting. No, it should be more than interesting.

By the way, this libel case against Mr. Mods that was filed in Pasig is a test case for media freedom and responsibility for the Negros Press Club which has just inducted its new officers who took time to pay courtesy calls on our public officials. While we affirm our responsibility to the community, we need to raise our voices against attempts to subject us to injustice, such as having to defend ourselves elsewhere, when we can do it here.*

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