1/4/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly representatives. Given the crucial importance of political expression in our democracy, it should be favored and guarded against any illicit and unwarranted censorship. II To be a true channel of democracy, free speech must be exercised without prior restraint or censorship and subsequent punishment. In Associate Justice Santiago Kapunan's separate opinion in Iglesia ni Cristo v. Court of Appeals:[48] The rights of free expression and free exercise of religion occupy a unique and special place in our constellation of civil rights. The primacy our society accords these freedoms determines the mode it chooses to regulate their expression. But the idea that an ordinary statute or decree could, by its effects, nullify both the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression puts an ominous gloss on these liberties. Censorship law as a means of regulation and as a form of prior restraint is anathema to a society which places high significance to these values.[49] Prior restraint is an official governmental restriction on any form of expression in advance of its actual utterance, dissemination, or publication. Thus, freedom from prior restraint is freedom from censorship, regardless of its form and the branch of that wielded it. When a governmental act is in prior restraint of expression, it bears a heavy presumption against its validity.[50] In Chavez: Prior restraint refers to official governmental restrictions on the press or other forms of expression in advance of actual publication or dissemination. Freedom from prior restraint is largely freedom from censorship of publications, whatever the form of censorship, and regardless of whether it is wielded by the executive, legislative or judicial branch of the government. Thus, it precludes governmental acts that required approval of a proposal to publish; licensing or permits as prerequisites to publication including the payment of license taxes for the privilege to publish; and even injunctions against publication. Even the closure of the business and printing offices of certain newspapers, resulting in the discontinuation of their printing and publication, are deemed as previous restraint or censorship. Any law or official that requires some form of permission to be had before publication can be made, commits an infringement of the constitutional right, and remedy can be had at the courts.[51] (Citations omitted) On the other hand, subsequent punishment is the imposition of liability on the individual exercising his or her freedom. The penalty may be penal, civil, or administrative.[52] Prior restraint is deemed a more severe restriction on expression than subsequent punishment because while he latter dissuades expression, ideas are still disseminated to the public. On the other hand, prior restraint prevents even the dissemination of ideas.[53] https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65669 30/60