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SORIANO v. MTRCB

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) preventively suspended Eliseo Soriano's television show "Ang Dating Daan" for 20 days based on certain utterances he made. Soriano sought to nullify the suspension order. The issue was whether Soriano's statements were part of religious discourse protected under the constitution. The Supreme Court ruled that Soriano's statements did not convey any religious belief and were made out of anger, not religious conviction. Therefore, MTRCB properly suspended Soriano from appearing on "Ang Dating Daan" for three months.

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63 views1 page

SORIANO v. MTRCB

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) preventively suspended Eliseo Soriano's television show "Ang Dating Daan" for 20 days based on certain utterances he made. Soriano sought to nullify the suspension order. The issue was whether Soriano's statements were part of religious discourse protected under the constitution. The Supreme Court ruled that Soriano's statements did not convey any religious belief and were made out of anger, not religious conviction. Therefore, MTRCB properly suspended Soriano from appearing on "Ang Dating Daan" for three months.

Uploaded by

SachieCasimiro
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SORIANO v.

MTRCB

FACTS: In these two petitions for certiorari and prohibition under Rule 65, petitioner
Eliseo F. Soriano seeks to nullify and set aside an order and a decision of the Movie
and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) in connection with certain
utterances he made in his television show, Ang Dating Daan.

After a preliminary conference in which petitioner appeared, the MTRCB, by Order of


August 16, 2004, preventively suspended the showing of the Ang Dating Daan program
for 20 days, in accordance with Section 3(d) of PD No. 1986, creating the MTRCB, in
relation to Sec. 3, Chapter XIII of the 2004 Implementing Rules and Regulations of PD
1986 and Sec. 7, Rule VII of the MTRCB Rules of Procedure. The same order also set
the case for preliminary investigation.

The following day, petitioner sought reconsideration of the preventive suspension order,
praying that Chairperson Consoliza P. Laguardia and two other members of the
adjudication board recuse themselves from hearing the case.[6]  Two days after,...
however, petitioner sought to withdraw his motion for reconsideration, followed by the
filing with this Court of a petition for certiorari and prohibition, docketed as G.R. No.
164785, to nullify the preventive suspension order... thus issued.

ISSUE: Whether or not Soriano‘s statements during the televised ―Ang Dating Daan
part of the religious discourse and within the protection of Section 5, Art.III.

RULING: No. The petitioner’s statements did not convey any particular religious belief,
and nothing furthered his avowed evangelical mission. Merely being in a bible
exposition program does not automatically entail that statements made are of a religious
discourse. “…he was moved by anger and the need to seek retribution, not by any
religious conviction.”

Under the circumstances obtaining in this case, therefore, and considering the adverse
effect of petitioner’s utterances on the viewers’ fundamental rights as well as petitioner’s
clear violation of his duty as a public trustee, the MTRCB properly suspended him from
appearing in Ang Dating Daan for three months.

Furthermore, it cannot be properly asserted that petitioner’s suspension was an undue


curtailment of his right to free speech either as a prior restraint or as a subsequent
punishment. Aside from the reasons given above (re the paramountcy of viewers rights,
the public trusteeship character of a broadcaster’s role and the power of the State to
regulate broadcast media), a requirement that indecent language be avoided has its
primary effect on the form, rather than the content, of serious communication. There are
few, if any, thoughts that cannot be expressed by the use of less offensive language.

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