Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd, SENATE Minority leader, has lauded the accomplishments of the Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc.
Last June 24, the senator was one the special guests of PAPI’s Midyear Executive session 2023 held at Makati Sports Club. The event coincided with Johnny Dayang, the association’s chairman emeritus.
Pimentel was the author and advocate of the Creative Industries Development Act, which the Senate passed recently.
“Under the law RA No. We recognize nine creative domains under RA No. 11904 and you may be interested to know that ‘publishing, printed media and related domains’ are recognized creative domains. Newspaper articles are journalism literature,” said Senator.
He recalled late Fr. Joaquin Bernas was a Jesuit priest and lawyer who served as dean emeritus at the Ateneo de Manila Law School. He was also a college professor, writer, and member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
Bernas explained that by specifying the word “people”, it would limit protection to natural persons and leave corporate entities like publishing companies unprotected.
Pimentel: “I’ll help you, and I will do what I can to promote and protect the newspaper industry and news reporting as a group.”