Marcos: Public interest not enough reason for live ‘pork trial’ coverage Written by Angie M. Rosales Friday, 27 June 2014 The issue on public interest is not enough reason to insist for a live coverage of the court proceedings of the plunder cases against three senators now pending before the Sandiganbayan, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said yesterday. “I don’t think that because it is of great public interest, I don’t know if it is good enough reason for the court for a live TV coverage,” Marcos said, slamming in the process the call of his colleague, Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano who has been unrelenting on his position for a live media coverage of the proceedings to make it acceptable to the public whatever will be the decision of the courts. Marcos is of the position that whatever will be the ongoing proceedings during the trial proper will likely be reported as it happens by various media entities. “Either way, even without TV (television) coverage, as I said, the reporting will be instantaneous because people will be in court watching, listening, twitting, texting and emailing it. We will have a constant stream of reports on it. People will be very interested on the proceedings and will go to some extent to see the actual proceedings,” he said to reporters. “I am not a lawyer. So, I don’t know what are the criteria for the court whether to allow or not to allow the live TV coverage. I suppose the court will have to decide. The suggestion, is because, everyone is very interested, to see what will happen and to see what actually the prosecution and the defense will present in court, and everyone is curious about it, I’m sure that will be taken into consideration by the court for a live TV coverage. But, I think iba ang criteria ng judge(s),” he added. Marcos said he empathizes what the respective families of Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Juan Ponce-Enrile are going through given their present predicament. Although he has not visited Estrada and Revilla, Marcos defended the two from critics’ claims that they are being afforded special treatment as based on what had been reported so far as to the condition of their detention facility, “it looks like the regular cell.” “Maybe it was just given a fresh paint but I don’t think that they are any special privileges being given them. Siguro naman lahat ng tao ay nakabantay. I don’t think that the PNP (Philippine National Police), aside from the usual procedures, is doing anything ‘special’ or ‘VIP’ treatment to them,” he said. Marcos likewise stood opposed to clamor of some to transfer the accused senators to regular jails, saying that they are merely being detained, have pending trials and have yet to be convicted of their guilt. “That is why, they are in the facility that they are in now. There is a difference. But again, I haven’t seen the actual physical condition of where there are so hindi ko masasabi na mas maganda ito kumpara sa iba. Sa nabasa ko, kompleto ito sa daga’t ipis, so, I guess that is part of the course,” he said. tribune.net.ph/nation/marcos-public-interest-not-enough-reason-for-live-pork-trial-coverage
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 05:36:08 +0000
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