‘It signifies not only a willful disregard or disobedience of the court’s orders, but such conduct as tends to bring the authority of the court and the administration of law into disrepute or in some manner to impede the due administration of justice.’
The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition for indirect contempt filed by Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. against ABS-CBN Corporation and ABS-CBN reporter Jorge Cariño.
This was stated in a decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, the Supreme Court en banc granted the petition for review on certiorari filed by ABS-CBN and Cariño challenging the rulings of the Court of Appeals which had affirmed the Regional Trial Court's refusal to dismiss the indirect contempt petition filed by Andal.
On 23 November 2009, dozens of armed persons stopped the convoy of Maguindanao gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu on its way to file his Certificate of Candidacy.
At least 57 died in what is now known as the Maguindanao Massacre wherein criminal cases for murder were subsequently filed against 197 persons, including Andal and members of his family.
On 23 June 2010, in an interview by Cariño that aired on ABS-CBN's TV Patrol World, Lakmodin Saliao narrated that he was present when the Ampatuan family planned what became the Maguindanao massacre.
Saliao named the Ampatuan family members who were present at the meetings, which prompted Andal's petition before the RTC to cite Saliao, ABS-CBN, and Cariño for indirect contempt, claiming that Saliao's interview was "calculated to interfere with court proceedings to serve Saliao's own interest without passing through the scrutiny of the police of the National Prosecution Service…" Andal also prayed that Saliao, ABS-CBN, and Cariño be prohibited from making further statements in any forum or media during the pendency of the Maguindanao Massacre cases.
ABS-CBN and Cariño jointly prayed for the dismissal of Andal's petition for failing to state a cause of action. The RTC ultimately denied their motion, which was upheld by the CA, prompting the present petition before the Court.
In granting the petition by ABS-CBN and Cariño, the Court re-examined the basis of the Court's contempt powers and defined what constitutes contemptuous speech and why such is punished.
Contempt of court is "disobedience to the Court by acting in opposition to its authority, justice, and dignity. It signifies not only a willful disregard or disobedience of the court's orders, but such conduct as tends to bring the authority of the court and the administration of law into disrepute or in some manner to impede the due administration of justice."
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