125 IGLESIA NI CRISTO vs.

COURT OF APPEALS,
BOARD OF REVIEW FOR MOVING PICTURES AND
TELEVISION (BRMPT) & HON. MENDOZA
[G.R. NO. 119673, JULY 26, 1996]
TOPIC: Freedom of Religion; extent of protection
PONENTE: Puno

AUTHOR:
NOTES: (if applicable)

CASE LAW/ DOCTRINE:

The right to religious profession and worship has a two-fold aspect, viz., freedom to believe and freedom to act on one's beliefs. The
first is absolute as long as the belief is confined within the realm of thought. The second is subject to regulation where the belief is
translated into external acts that affect the public welfare.
The determination of the extent of protection of the freedom of religion is a judicial function that cannot be arrogated to an
administrative agency.
FACTS:
Petitioner Iglesia ni Cristo, a duly organized religious organization, has a television program entitled "Ang Iglesia ni Cristo" aired on
Channel 2 every Saturday and on Channel 13 every Sunday. The program presents and propagates petitioner's religious beliefs,
doctrines and practices often times in comparative studies with other religions.
Sometime in the months of September, October and November 1992 petitioner submitted to the respondent Board of Review for
Moving Pictures and Television the VTR tapes of its TV program Series Nos. 116, 119, 121 and 128. The Board classified the series as
"X" or not for public viewing on the ground that they "offend and constitute an attack against other religions which is expressly
prohibited by law."
Petitioner pursued two (2) courses of action against the respondent Board. On November 28, 1992, it appealed to the Office of the
President the classification of its TV Series No. 128. It succeeded in its appeal for on December 18, 1992, the Office of the President
reversed the decision of the respondent Board. Forthwith, the Board allowed Series No. 128 to be publicly telecast.
On December 14, 1992, petitioner also filed against the respondent Board Civil Case No. Q-92-14280, with the RTC, NCR Quezon
City. 1 Petitioner alleged that the respondent Board acted without jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion in requiring petitioner to
submit the VTR tapes of its TV program and in x-rating them. It cited its TV Program Series Nos. 115, 119, 121 and 128. In their
Answer, respondent Board invoked its power under PD No. 1986 in relation to Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code.
RTC Ruling: BRMPT ordered to grant INC the necessary permit for all series of INC program. INC is ordered to refrain from
offending and attacking other existing religions in showing their program. MR granted the deletion of the second sentence ordering
INC to stop attacking other religions.
CA: Reversed RTC decision stating: (1) BRMPT has the power to review the programs of INC; (2) Board did not act in grave abuse of
discretion when it denied the permit of INC to air because such program attacked other religions.
Hence, a petition for review under Rule 45 was filed by INC in the SC.
ISSUE(S):
1. WON BRMPT has the power to review the INC TV Program;
2. Assuming that it has power, did it gravely abuse its discretion in prohibiting the airing of the program, specifically Episode
Nos. 115, 119, 121 for the reason that they constitute an attack against other religions and that they are indecent, contrary to
law, and good customs.
3. ISSUE related to the topic: WON the INC is not constitutionally protected as a form of religious exercise.
HELD:
1. YES, the exercise of religious freedom can be regulated by the State. [PLEASE READ 2-FOLD ASPECTS OF RIGHT TO
FREEDOM OF RELIGION]
2. YES, it is not the duty to determine is a judicial function not granted to a administrative agency.
3. NO. Absence of findings that such attacks offend other religions. Applying the clear and present danger rule, the issue
involves the content of speech. The speech must first be allowed in order to measure the impact and the causal connection
between the speech and the evil apprehended, which has not yet been established.
RATIO:
FIRST ISSUE:

Petitioner contends that the term "television program" should not include religious programs like its program "Ang Iglesia ni Cristo." A
contrary interpretation, it is urged, will contravene section 5, Article III of the Constitution which guarantees that "no law shall be made
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession
and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed."
We reject petitioner's submission which need not set us adrift in a constitutional voyage towards an uncharted sea. Freedom of religion
has been accorded a preferred status by the framers of our fundamental laws, past and present. We have affirmed this preferred status
well aware that it is "designed to protect the broadest possible liberty of conscience, to allow each man to believe as his conscience
directs, to profess his beliefs, and to live as he believes he ought to live, consistent with the liberty of others and with the common
good." 16 We have also laboriously defined in our jurisprudence the intersecting umbras and penumbras of the right to religious
profession and worship.
To quote the summation of Mr. Justice Isagani Cruz, our well-known constitutionalist: 17
Religious Profession and Worship
The right to religious profession and worship has a two-fold aspect, viz., freedom to believe and freedom to act on
one's beliefs. The first is absolute as long as the belief is confined within the realm of thought. The second is subject
to regulation where the belief is translated into external acts that affect the public welfare.
(1) Freedom to Believe
The individual is free to believe (or disbelieve) as he pleases concerning the hereafter. He may indulge his own
theories about life and death; worship any god he chooses, or none at all; embrace or reject any religion;
acknowledge the divinity of God or of any being that appeals to his reverence; recognize or deny the immortality of
his soul -- in fact, cherish any religious conviction as he and he alone sees fit. However absurd his beliefs may be to
others, even if they be hostile and heretical to the majority, he has full freedom to believe as he pleases. He may not
be required to prove his beliefs. He may not be punished for his inability to do so. Religion, after all, is a matter of
faith. "Men may believe what they cannot prove." Every one has a right to his beliefs and he may not be called to
account because he cannot prove what he believes.
(2) Freedom to Act on One's Beliefs
But where the individual externalizes his beliefs in acts or omissions that affect the public, his freedom to do so
becomes subject to the authority of the State. As great as this liberty may be, religious freedom, like all the other
rights guaranteed in the Constitution, can be enjoyed only with a proper regard for the rights of others. It is error to
think that the mere invocation of religious freedom will stalemate the State and render it impotent in protecting the
general welfare. The inherent police power can be exercised to prevent religious practices inimical to society. And
this is true even if such practices are pursued out of sincere religious conviction and not merely for the purpose of
evading the reasonable requirements or prohibitions of the law.
Justice Frankfurter put it succinctly: "The constitutional provision on religious freedom terminated disabilities, it did
not create new privileges. It gave religious liberty, not civil immunity. Its essence is freedom from conformity to
religious dogma, not freedom from conformity to law because of religious dogma.
Accordingly, while one has lull freedom to believe in Satan, he may not offer the object of his piety a human
sacrifice, as this would be murder. Those who literally interpret the Biblical command to "go forth and multiply" are
nevertheless not allowed to contract plural marriages in violation of the laws against bigamy. A person cannot refuse
to pay taxes on the ground that it would be against his religious tenets to recognize any authority except that of God
alone. An atheist cannot express in his disbelief in act of derision that wound the feelings of the faithful. The police
power can validly asserted against the Indian practice of the suttee, born of deep religious conviction, that calls on
the widow to immolate herself at the funeral pile of her husband.
Television is a medium that reaches even the eyes and ears of children. The Court iterates the rule that the exercise of religious freedom
can be regulated by the State when it will bring about the clear and present danger of some substantive evil which the State is duty
bound to prevent, i.e., serious detriment to the more overriding interest of public health, public morals, or public welfare. A laissez
faire policy on the exercise of religion can be seductive to the liberal mind but history counsels the Court against its blind adoption as
religion is and continues to be a volatile area of concern in our country today.

SECOND ISSUE:
In sum, the respondent Board x-rated petitioner's TV program series Nos. 115, 119, 121 and 128 because of petitioner's controversial
biblical interpretations and its "attacks" against contrary religious beliefs. The respondent appellate court agreed and even held that the
said "attacks" are indecent, contrary to law and good customs.
We reverse the ruling of the appellate court.
First. Deeply ensconced in our fundamental law is its hostility against all prior restraints on speech, including religious speech. Hence,
any act that restrains speech is hobbled by the presumption of invalidity and should be greeted with furrowed brows. 19 It is the burden
of the respondent Board to overthrow this presumption. If it fails to discharge this burden, its act of censorship will be struck down. It
failed in the case at bar.
Second. The evidence shows that the respondent Board x-rated petitioners TV series for "attacking" either religions, especially the
Catholic church. An examination of the evidence, especially Exhibits "A," "A-1," "B," "C," and "D" will show that the so-called
"attacks" are mere criticisms of some of the deeply held dogmas and tenets of other religions. The videotapes were not viewed by the
respondent court as they were not presented as evidence. Yet they were considered by the respondent court as indecent, contrary to law
and good customs, hence, can be prohibited from public viewing under section 3(c) of PD 1986. This ruling clearly suppresses
petitioner's freedom of speech and interferes with its right to free exercise of religion.
The records show that the decision of the respondent Board, affirmed by the respondent appellate court, is completely bereft of findings
of facts to justify the conclusion that the subject video tapes constitute impermissible attacks against another religion. There is no
showing whatsoever of the type of harm the tapes will bring about especially the gravity and imminence of the threatened harm. Prior
restraint on speech, including religious speech, cannot be justified by hypothetical fears but only by the showing of a substantive and
imminent evil which has taken the life of a reality already on ground.
Finally, it is also opined by Mr. Justice Kapunan that ". . . the determination of the question as to whether or not such vilification,
exaggeration or fabrication falls within or lies outside the boundaries of protected speech or expression is a judicial function which
cannot be arrogated by an administrative body such as a Board of Censors." He submits that a "system of prior restraint may only be
validly administered by judges and not left to administrative agencies. "The same submission is made by Mr. Justice Mendoza.
IN VIEW WHEREOF, the Decision of the respondent Court of Appeals dated March 24, 1995 is affirmed insofar as it sustained the
jurisdiction of the respondent MTRCB to review petitioner's TV program entitled "Ang Iglesia ni Cristo," and is reversed and set aside
insofar as it sustained the action of the respondent MTRCB x-rating petitioner's TV Program Series Nos. 115, 119, and 121. No costs.
DISSENTING/CONCURRING OPINION(S):
Panganiban (concurring)
Religious Freedom -- A Cherished Right
FIRST, I agree with the ponencia that "(f)reedom of religion has been accorded a preferred status by the framers of our fundamental
laws, past and present." Religious freedom is absolute when it is confined within the realm of thought to a private, personal relationship
between a man's conscience and his God, but it is subject to regulation when religious belief is transformed into external acts that affect
or afflict others. The mere invocation of religious freedom will not stalemate the State and ipso facto render it incompetent in
preserving the rights of others and in protecting the general welfare.
PADILLA, J., concurring and dissenting:
I concur with the majority opinion insofar as it removes the ban against the showing of petitioner's TV Program Series Nos. 115, 119
and 121. However, I disagree with that part of the majority opinion which upholds the power of respondent Board to subject to prior
restraint petitioner's religious television programs.
It should by now be undisputably recognized and firmly rooted in this country that there can be no prior restraints on the exercise of
free speech expression or religion unless such exercise poses a clear and present danger of a substantive evil which the State has the
right and even the duty to prevent. The ban against such prior restraints will result, as it has resulted in the past, in occasional abuses of
free speech and expression but it is immeasurably preferable to experience such occasional abuses of speech and expression than to
arm a governmental administrative agency with the authority to censor speech and expression in accordance with legislativev standards
which albeit apparently laudable in their nature, can very well be bent or stretched by such agency to convenient latitudes as to frustrate
and eviscerate the precious freedoms of speech and expression.
Besides, any person who may feel aggrieved by the exercise of free speech, expression and religion, is afforded, under our system, the

remedy of redress in the courts of law, justice and equity.

In short, it is far better for the individual to live in a climate of free speech and free expression, devoid of prior restraints, even at the
risk of occasional excesses of such freedoms than to exist in an ambiance of censorship which is always a step closer to autocracy and
dictatorship.
MENDOZA, J., concurring:
My position will be spelled out presently but, in brief, it is this: Censorship may be allowed only in anarrow class of cases involving
pornography, excessive violence, and danger to national security. Even in these cases, only courts can prohibit the showing of a film or
the broadcast of a program. In all other cases, the only remedy against speech which creates a clear and present danger to public
interests is through subsequent punishment. Considering the potentiality for harm which motion pictures and TV programs may have
especially on the young, all materials may validly be required to be submitted for review before they may be shown or broadcast.
However, the final determination of the character of the materials cannot be left to an administrative agency. That judicial review of
administrative action is available does not obviate the constitutional objection to censorship. For these reasons, I would hold 3(b) of
P.D. No. 1986, which gives to the Board limited time for review, to be valid, while finding 3(c), under which the Board acted in this
case in censoring petitioner's materials, to be, on its face and as applied, unconstitutional.
MELO, J., concurring and dissenting:
Freedom of religion and expression is the rule and its restriction, the exception. Any prior restriction on the exercise of the freedom to
profess religious faith and the propagation thereof will unduly diminish that religion's authority to spread what it believes to be the
sacred truth. The State can exercise no power to restrict such right until the exercise thereof traverses the point that will endanger the
order of civil society. Thus we have ruled in the case ofEbralinag vs. The Division Superintendent of Schools of Cebu (219 SCRA 270
[1993]):
The sole justification for a given restraint or limitation on the exercise of religious freedom is the existence of a grave
and present danger of a character both grave and imminent of a serious evil to public safety, public morals, public
health or any other legitimate public interest that the state has the right and duty to prevent.
Correspondingly, the MTRCB has no authority to use as standard, the dangerous tendency rule, which we have long abandoned and for
which reason, the dangerous tendency standard under Subparagraph C, Section 3 of Presidential Decree No. 1986 has no place in our
statute books.