A little more than a week prior to the Dinagyang Festival celebration, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog assured that no media outlet, especially newspapers will be banned during the duration of the event.

This is the reaction of the city mayor after City Tourism Officer Ben Jimena announced his proposal to disallow distribution of newspapers that contain materials that may embarrass the city.

In an interview over Aksyon Radyo, Jimena said he would propose that “even newspapers will not be allowed to be distributed unless properly checked by the monitoring team,” especially “if it is going to embarrass the city” during the festival.

However, journalist Nestor Burgos, national chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said that Dinagyang or not, the move is a prior restraint to the media.

“Any pre-screening or ban on newspapers is censorship and intrusion on the editorial independence of news organizations. Positive and negative news are integral to a democratic society,” Burgos said in a text message.

“I will respect the exercise of press freedom at any given point of time, with or without the Dinagyang Festival,” Mabilog said in an interview over the same radio station.

But at the same time, Mabilog appealed “for responsible journalism especially for the promotion of the city.”

But, he clarified that, just like other proposal presented to his office, Jimena’s proposal will not be neglected out rightly as it needs public opinion.

Jimena added that since it is a political season, distribution of campaign materials, like promotional flyers should also be disallowed.

Mabilog agreed that the Dinagyang festival should remain apolitical and must not be used by any political candidate.*