
MANILA – Malacañang said on Tuesday that Filipinos are free to criticize the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, stressing that everyone in the Philippines can enjoy freedom of speech.
“The President believes in freedom of speech and 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,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press statement.
This comes after the findings of the study done by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from June 23 to 26 and released on Monday revealed that 45% of 1,200 Filipinos are confident that they can speak whatever they want “openly and without fear, even if it is against President Duterte”.
Only 27% said they were afraid to speak freely against Duterte, while the remaining 27% were undecided.
The survey results show a “moderate” +18 net agreement score on personal freedom, which is higher than the “neutral” +5 recorded in May 2021.
Based on the same survey, 45% of respondents said it is “dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical of the administration, even if it is the truth”.
According to the SWS, only 25% of those respondents disagreed, while 28% were undecided.
This results in a “moderate” net agreement score of +20 on the risk of posting anything critical of the current administration.
SWS said the latest net danger is similar to “moderate” +18 posted in May 2021, following an 18-point decline from the “very strong” +49 in November 2020.
Duterte has never restricted Filipinos’ freedom of expression because he is concerned with their well-being, Roque stated.
Roque further said that Duterte does not mind being criticized as long as he is carrying out his duties as the country’s top government official.
“The President simply focuses on his work with the welfare of the Filipinos foremost in his mind,” Roque said.