07/04/2020
UNITY STATEMENT ON THE MEMORANDUM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES (DENR) REGION II
We stand united, as students, organizations, fraternity, and sorority of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources, in condemning the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ latest memorandum on the subject of POSTING AND COMMENTING NEGATIVE IN SOCIAL MEDIA of their employees.
The memorandum is addressed to all Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENR) Officers, all Community Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) Officers, and all Regional Office Division Chiefs, ordering them to advise their employees, including those under Contract of Service, not to comment or post anything against the government in their social media accounts.
The memorandum, signed by Assistant Regional Director for Management Services Engr. Marcos G. Dacanay, shows a blatant suppression against the employees’ democratic rights to express their opinions and criticisms against the government. It clearly violates Article III (Bill of Rights) Section 4 of The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines which states that "No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances." This means that the memorandum has no jurisdiction on the employees and public officials since it is unconstitutional and has no power over the above-mentioned section of the Philippine Constitution.
The bold move of DENR to its employees and public officials is not far from the monitoring of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) to online posts and statuses and the sending out of subpoenas by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to individuals who voice out their criticisms to the government online. This is also not different from the case of the University of the East’s The Dawn Editor-in-Chief, Joshua Molo, who was forced to conduct a public apology for posting statements against the Duterte administration's response on the COVID-19 pandemic.
At a time where the government fails to address the demand of its people, especially now that we are facing a pandemic crisis, we are entitled to our own freedom of speech. Any form of restriction to one’s free flow of democracy is a threat to our constitutionally-guaranteed rights as Filipino people. To ask one to simply become a blind follower of the government is a great disrespect to the martyrs who fought for the freedom and rights that we have now.
We stand firm and united to call for the junking of this memorandum and to hold DENR accountable for the suppression of their employees’ freedom of speech against the government. We call to ensure the welfare and protection of the employees, including those under Contract of Service, regardless of their political beliefs and aspirations. We stand one with the employees of DENR in exercising their political rights.