By Fel V. Maragay

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday he favored amending certain provisions of the right-to-reply bill which are flawed by imposing unreasonable requirements on newspapers and broadcast networks.

Enrile said it may be ?too much? to require a newspaper to publish the reply of an offended reader on the same page and with equal prominence or amount of space.

This provision of the bill, he said, may be interpreted to mean that if a report that is derogatory to certain individuals is the daily?s banner headline story, the reply should be treated in a similar manner.

?Or if you are attacked in the newspaper?s editorial, that means your reply will have to be printed in the same space reserved for the editorial,? Enrile said.

Newspapers and TV-radio networks should be given some flexibility in complying with the right-to-reply rule but ?surely the reply should be given more or less the same prominence as the offensive article.?

The bill?s principal author, Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., said he was willing to modify the bill so as not to constrain the newspapers and broadcast networks in giving space or airtime to the replies.

Pimentel said if the report that is deemed malicious and defamatory to a person or group of persons was carried on the front page, the newspaper can put an ear or teaser on the same page, drawing attention of readers to the publication of a particular reply, part of which may be on the front page and the rest on an inside page.

At the same time, Enrile and Joker Arroyo criticized Senators Francis Escudero, Mar Roxas and Loren Legarda?all presidential aspirants?for withdrawing support for the right-to-reply bill.

Enrile and Arroyo said the sudden turnabout of the three senators creates the impression that they do not want to displease the media whose support they need for their presidential ambition.

They said such move does not amount to anything because the Senate had already approved the right-to-reply bill in July 2008.

?They have to answer to the people for changing their mind. As for me, I will stick to my stand on the bill and I am willing to debate with anyone over the issue,? Enrile told radio station dwIZ.

Arroyo said he was taken aback by Escudero?s turnaround because as chairman of the committee on justice and human rights, he sponsored the right-to- reply bill and endorsed the accompanying committee report.

?This is what is happening. If you are a presidential aspirant, when a bill is under attack from the media, you back out. It?s as if at the first drop of rain, you take cover,? he said.

Enrile and Arroyo also rebuked leaders of media groups for being very vocal in assailing the right-to-reply bill with the prospects that it may be approved by Congress. They said most of them ignored the invitations of the committee on mass media and public information, chaired by Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., when it was discussed during public hearings.

But Escudero said that his stand on the issue has nothing to do with fearing the media nor with the 2010 elections. Rather, he said, it has something to do with imposing unnecessary restraints on the media.

?I have had my share of criticisms and continue to be pilloried, at times, by the media. When one is on the side of truth, however, one does not need to fear the media,? Escudero said in a press statement.

?We cannot legislate responsibility. Self-regulation is the best option. I have crossed the line. I stand on the side of press freedom.?

Arroyo said the right-to-reply bill is actually a reiteration of a provision in the terms and conditions for the grant of congressional franchise to TV and radio stations. He said violation of these terms and conditions, insofar as allowing the public to give their side of controversies, would warrant the revocation of their broadcast franchise.

He also took a swipe at President Arroyo for saying she would veto the right-to -reply bill because she was against any infringement on press freedom.

?I am wondering why the President is saying she will not sign the bill when she has not even seen its contents and it is not yet in final form,? the senator from Bicol region and Makati City said.

?The President should wait for the Congress? approval of the bill. She seems to be siding with the media. But the media are always attacking her. Is it because she is courting the support of the media. But what she said was improper and unpresidential.?

Pimentel said it would be premature for anyone to say that the right-to-reply bill should be vetoed by the President.

He pointed out that even Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez believes that the bill will not infringe upon press freedom but will make the mass media adhere to the rules of fair play.