Iglesia ni Cristo, (Inc.) v. CA, MTRCB (1996)
Iglesia ni Cristo, (Inc.) v. CA, MTRCB, En Banc, G.R. No. 119673, July 26, 1996, Per Puno, J.:
1. Background
• Petitioner Iglesia ni Cristo, a duly organized religious organization, has a television program entitled “Ang Iglesia ni Cristo” aired on Channel 2 every Saturday and on Channel 13 every Sunday. The program presents and propagates petitioner’s religious beliefs, doctrines and practices often times in comparative studies with other religions.
• Sometime in the months of September, October and November 1992 petitioner submitted to the respondent Board of Review for Moving Pictures and Television the VTR tapes of its TV program Series Nos. 116, 119, 121 and 128. The Board classified the series as “X” or not for public viewing on the ground that they “offend and constitute an attack against other religions which is expressly prohibited by law.”
a. Issues
• The basic issues can be reduced into two: (1) first, whether the respondent Board has the power to review petitioner’s TV program “Ang Iglesia ni Cristo,” and (2) second, assuming it has the power, whether it gravely abused its discretion when it prohibited the airing of petitioner’s religious program, series Nos. 115, 119 and 121, for the reason that they constitute an attack against other religions and that they are indecent, contrary to law and good customs.
2. SC Decision/Resolution
• Petitioner contends that the term “television program” should not include religious programs like its program “Ang Iglesia ni Cristo.” A contrary interpretation, it is urged, will contravene section 5, Article III of the Constitution which guarantees that “no law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed.”
• We reject petitioner’s submission which need not set us adrift in a constitutional voyage towards an uncharted sea. Freedom of religion has been accorded a preferred status by the framers of our fundamental laws, past and present. We have affirmed this preferred status well aware that it is “designed to protect the broadest possible liberty of conscience, to allow each man to believe as his conscience directs, to profess his beliefs, and to live as he believes he ought to live, consistent with the liberty of others and with the common good.” We have also laboriously defined in our jurisprudence the intersecting umbras and penumbras of the right to religious profession and worship…
• We thus reject petitioner’s postulate that its religious program is per se beyond review by the respondent Board. Its public broadcast on TV of its religious program brings it out of the bosom of internal belief. Television is a medium that reaches even the eyes and ears of children. The Court iterates the rule that the exercise of religious freedom can be regulated by the State when it will bring about the clear and present danger of some substantive evil which the State is duty bound to prevent, i.e., serious detriment to the more overriding interest of public health, public morals, or public welfare. A laissez faire policy on the exercise of religion can be seductive to the liberal mind but history counsels the Court against its blind adoption as religion is and continues to be a volatile area of concern in our country today. Across the sea and in our shore, the bloodiest and bitterest wars fought by men were caused by irreconcilable religious differences. Our country is still not safe from the recurrence of this stultifying strife considering our warring religious beliefs and the fanaticism with which some of us cling and claw to these beliefs. Even now, we have yet to settle the near century old strife in Mindanao, the roots of which have been nourished by the mistrust and misunderstanding between our Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters. The bewildering rise of weird religious cults espousing violence as an article of faith also proves the wisdom of our rule rejecting a strict let alone policy on the exercise of religion. For sure, we shall continue to subject any act pinching the space for the free exercise of religion to a heightened scrutiny but we shall not leave its rational exercise to the irrationality of man. For when religion divides and its exercise destroys, the State should not stand still.
• It is also petitioner’s submission that the respondent appellate court gravely erred when it affirmed the ruling of the respondent Board x-rating its TV Program Series Nos. 115, 119, 121 and 128. The records show that the respondent Board disallowed the program series for “attacking” other religions. Thus, Exhibits “A,” “A-1,” (respondent Board’s Voting Slip for Television) reveal that its reviewing members x-rated Series 115 for “… criticizing different religions, based on their own interpretation of the Bible.” They suggested that the program should only explain petitioner’s “… own faith and beliefs and avoid attacks on other faiths.” Exhibit “B” shows that Series No. 119 was x-rated because “the Iglesia ni Cristo insists on the literal translation of the bible and says that our Catholic veneration of the Virgin Mary is not to be condoned because nowhere it is found in the bible that we should do so. This is intolerance …” Exhibit “C” shows that Series No. 121 was x-rated “… for reasons of the attacks, they do on, specifically, the Catholic religion… (T)hey can not tell, dictate any other religion that they are right and the rest are wrong
…” Exhibit “D” also shows that Series No. 128 was not favorably recommended because it “… outrages Catholic and Protestant’s beliefs.” On second review, it was x-rated because of its “unbalanced interpretations of some parts of the bible.” In sum, the respondent Board x-rated petitioner’s TV program series Nos. 115, 119, 121 and 128 because of petitioner’s controversial biblical interpretations and its “attacks” against contrary religious beliefs. The respondent appellate court agreed and even held that the said “attacks” are indecent, contrary to law and good customs.
• We reverse the ruling of the appellate court.
• First. Deeply ensconced in our fundamental law is its hostility against all prior restraints on speech, including religious speech. Hence, any act that restrains speech is hobbled by the presumption of invalidity and should be greeted with furrowed brows. It is the burden of the respondent Board to overthrow this presumption. If it fails to discharge this burden, its act of censorship will be struck down. It failed in the case at bar.
• Second. The evidence shows that the respondent Board x-rated petitioners TV series for “attacking” either religion, especially the Catholic church. An examination of the evidence, especially Exhibits “A,” “A-1,” “B,” “C,” and “D” will show that the so-called “attacks” are mere criticisms of some of the deeply held dogmas and tenets of other religions. The videotapes were not viewed by the respondent court as they were not presented as evidence. Yet they were considered by the respondent court as indecent, contrary to law and good customs, hence, can be prohibited from public viewing under section 3(c) of PD 1986. This ruling clearly suppresses petitioner’s freedom of speech and interferes with its right to free exercise of religion.
• It misappreciates the essence of freedom to differ as delineated in the benchmark case of Cantwell v. Connecticut, so viz.:
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In the realm of religious faith, and in that of political belief, sharp differences arise. In both fields, the tenets of one man may seem the rankest error to his neighbor. To persuade others to his own point of view, the pleader, as we know, at times, resorts to exaggeration, to vilification of men who have been, or are prominent in church or state or even to false statements. But the people of this nation have ordained in the light of history that inspite of the probability of excesses and abuses, these liberties are, in the long view, essential to enlightened opinion and right conduct on the part of the citizens of democracy.
The respondent Board may disagree with the criticisms of other religions by petitioner but that gives it no excuse to interdict such criticisms, however, unclean they may be. Under our constitutional scheme, it is not the task of the State to favor any religion by protecting it against an attack by another religion. Religious dogmas and beliefs are often at war and to preserve peace among their followers, especially the fanatics, the establishment clause of freedom of religion prohibits the State from leaning towards any religion. Vis-a-vis religious differences, the State enjoys no banquet of options. Neutrality alone is its fixed and immovable stance. In fine, respondent board cannot squelch the speech of petitioner Iglesia ni Cristo simply because it attacks other religions, even if said religion happens to be the most numerous church in our country. In a State where there ought to be no difference between the appearance and the reality of freedom of religion, the remedy against bad theology is better theology. The bedrock of freedom of religion is freedom of thought and it is best served by encouraging the marketplace of dueling ideas. When the luxury of time permits, the marketplace of ideas demands that speech should be met by more speech for it is the spark of opposite speech, the heat of colliding ideas that can fan the embers of truth.
• Third. The respondents cannot also rely on the ground “attacks against another religion” in x-rating the religious program of petitioner. Even a side glance at section 3 of PD No. 1986 will reveal that it is not among the grounds to justify an order prohibiting the broadcast of petitioner’s television program. The ground “attack against another religion” was merely added by the respondent Board in its Rules. This rule is void for it runs smack against the hoary doctrine that administrative rules and regulations cannot expand the letter and spirit of the law they seek to enforce.
• It is opined that the respondent board can still utilize” attack against any religion” as a ground allegedly “… because section 3 (c) of PD No. 1986 prohibits the showing of motion pictures, television programs and publicity materials which are contrary to law and Article 201 (2) (b) (3) of the Revised Penal Code punishes anyone who exhibits “shows which offend any race or religion.” We respectfully disagree for it is plain that the word “attack” is not synonymous with the word “offend.” Moreover, Article 201 (2) (b) (3) of the Revised Penal Code should be invoked to justify the subsequent punishment of a show which offends any religion. It cannot be utilized to justify prior censorship of speech. It must be emphasized that E.O. 876, the law prior to PD 1986, included “attack against any religion” as a ground for censorship. The ground was not, however, carried over by PD 1986. Its deletion is a decree to disuse it. There can be no other intent.
• Fourth. In x-rating the TV program of the petitioner, the respondents failed to apply the clear and present danger rule. In American Bible Society v. City of Manila, this Court held: “The constitutional guaranty of free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship carries with it the right to disseminate religious information. Any restraint of such right can be justified like other restraints on freedom of expression on the ground that there is a clear and present danger of any substantive evil which the State has the right to prevent.” In Victoriano vs. Elizalde Rope Workers Union, we further ruled that “… it is only where it is unavoidably necessary to prevent an immediate and grave danger to the security and welfare of the community that infringement of religious freedom may be justified, and only to the smallest extent necessary to avoid the danger.”
• The records show that the decision of the respondent Board, affirmed by the respondent appellate court, is completely bereft of findings of facts to justify the conclusion that the subject video tapes constitute impermissible attacks against another religion. There is no showing whatsoever of the type of harm the tapes will bring about especially the gravity and imminence of the threatened harm. Prior restraint on speech, including religious speech, cannot be justified by hypothetical fears but only by the showing of a substantive and imminent evil which has taken the life of a reality already on ground.
• It is also opined that it is inappropriate to apply the clear and present danger test to the case at bar because the issue involves the content of speech and not the time, place or manner of speech. Allegedly, unless the speech is first allowed, its impact cannot be measured, and the causal connection between the speech and the evil apprehended cannot be established. The contention overlooks the fact that the case at bar involves videotapes that are pre-taped and hence, their speech content is known and not an X quantity. Given the specific content of the speech, it is not unreasonable to assume that the respondent Board, with its expertise, can determine whether its sulphur will bring about the substantive evil feared by the law.
• Finally, it is also opined by Mr. Justice Kapunan that “… the determination of the question as to whether or not such vilification, exaggeration or fabrication falls within or lies outside the boundaries of protected speech or expression is a judicial function which cannot be arrogated by an administrative body such as a Board of Censors.” He submits that a “system of prior restraint may only be validly administered by judges and not left to administrative agencies. “The same submission is made by Mr. Justice Mendoza.
• This thoughtful thesis is an attempt to transplant another American rule in our jurisdiction. Its seedbed was laid down by Mr. Justice Brennan in his concurring opinion in the 1962 case of Manual Enterprise v. Day. By 1965, the US Supreme Court in Freedman v. Maryland was ready to hold that “the teaching of cases is that, because only a judicial determination inan adversary proceeding ensures the necessary sensitivity to freedom of expression only a procedure requiring a judicial determination suffices to impose a valid final restraint.”
• While the thesis has a lot to commend itself, we are not ready to hold that it is unconstitutional for Congress to grant an administrative body quasi-judicial power to preview and classify TV programs and enforce its decision subject to review by our courts.
