1/4/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly In Newsounds Broadcasting Network, Inc. v. Dy:[84] The immediate implication of the application of the "strict scrutiny" test is that the burden falls upon respondents as agents of to prove that their actions do not infringe upon petitioners' constitutional rights. As content regulation cannot be done in the absence of any compelling reason, the burden lies with the to establish such compelling reason to infringe the right to free expression.[85] While content-based regulations are "treated as more suspect than content-neutral"[86] regulations due to discrimination in regulating the expression, content-neutral regulations are subject to "lesser but still heightened scrutiny."[87] In content-neutral regulations, the intermediate approach is applied where only a substantial al interest is required to be established.[88] This is lower than the stringent standard of compelling State interest required in content-based regulations, since content-neutral regulations are not designed to suppress free speech but only its incidents.[89] Through the intermediate approach, the validity of a content-neutral regulation is analyzed along the following parameters: (1) whether it is within the government's constitutional power; (2) whether it furthers an important or substantial governmental interest; (3) whether the governmental interest is unrelated to the suppression of free expression; and (4) whether the incidental restriction on freedoms of speech, expression, and the press is no greater than is essential to the furtherance of that interest.[90] Nevertheless, content-neutral regulations may still be invalidated if the incidental. restriction on expressive freedom is greater than is essential to achieve the governmental interest.[91] The regulation must be "reasonable and narrowly drawn to fit the regulatory purpose, with the least restrictive means undertaken";[92] otherwise, it must be struck down. This Court has recognized that the right of suffrage necessarily includes the right to express one's chosen candidate to the public.[93] Especially during the election period, the right to free speech and expression is fundamental and consequential: "[S]peech serves one of its greatest public purposes in the context of elections when the free exercise thereof informs the people what the issues are, and who are supporting what issues." At the heart of democracy is every advocate's right to make known what the people need to know, while the meaningful exercise of one's right of suffrage includes the right of every voter to know what they need to know in order to make their choice.[94] (Citations omitted) During the election period, citizens seek information on candidates and campaigns and, upon reaching a choice, campaign and persuade other people to likewise vote for their https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65669 35/60