The Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) voiced alarm over the recent confiscation of magazines from an outlet of Book Sale by the Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board (CAIB).
Pachico Seares, CCPC executive director, said in a statement yesterday that CAIB “exceeded its authority in raiding the store and seizing 237 men’s and women’s magazines.”
Only the courts have jurisdiction in determining what is obscene, said Seares, a lawyer and editor in Sun.Star Cebu.
“The Supreme Court always ruled that obscenity is an issue that is “proper for judicial determination and should be treated on a case-to-case basis and on the judges’ sound discretion.”
It is not for CAIB to determine obscenity,” said the statement.
Cebu Daily News is a member of the local citizens-press council which advocates professionalism and responsible media, and defends freedom of the press.
Dr. Lucelle Mercado, city administrator and CAIB head, was not ready to give a comment last night. Mercado said in a text message to CDN that she was still in a meeting with Mayor Michael Rama.
Rama was also unavailable for comment.
CAIB inspected a Book Sale outlet in SM Cebu at the North Reclamation Area on June 30 and confiscated 186 copies of Cosmopolitan, 38 copies of FHM, 11 copies of Maxim — all magazines published in Metro Manila and two copies of the book Kama Sutra.
No court warrant supported the seizure.
Seares said “what CAIB did amounted to unreasonable seizure that the Constitution condemns.”
Quoting the Supreme Court case Pita vs. Court of Appeals (Oct. 5, 1989), Seares said the high tribunal ruled that only the court can order the seizure of publications after proper legal steps are taken.
“What CAIB should’ve done was to secure copies of the “offensive” publications and ask the court to order the confiscation if it finds them to be obscene,” he added.
In 2011, CCPC opposed a proposed Cebu Provincial Board “tabloid” ordinance that would have empowered the governor to confiscate newspapers and magazines that an anti-obscenity board would find to be obscene.
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