At least this was how senators look at the proposal of National Security Adviser (NSA) Norberto Gonzales to keep a profile of media practioners suspected of imbibing communism.

Senators who opposed the project said it would constitute a prior restaint policy on press freedom that the Constitution fully guarantees.

Gonzales earlier had accused the press of being infiltrated by communists in justifying his position to profile mediamen.

Senator Franklin Drilon called the NSA paranoid for even coming up with the idea. "That indicates the paranoia of these people. They cannot distinguish straight reporting from ideology."

Legistators explained that the Constitution does not prohibit holding ideologies that contradict a democratic way of life, like communism. "We cannot prosecute someone even if he thinks dictatorship is the best for the country," said Sen. Francis Pangilinan, a lawyer.

Sen. Joker Arroyo argued that under a democracy, there is freedom to hold different ideas. "There should be freedom for every idea (because) its not a crime to subscribe to what communism teaches."

The senator described a democracy as a state where there is a market of free ideas. "Anyone can indoctrinate anyone with communism, it has not been outlawed."

If anything, the NSA’s position regarding profiling of mediamen could be considered illegal, if not unconstitutional senators claimed when asked at the Session Hall Tuesday.

Pangilinan explained that media profiling could instill fear and be used to intimidate and harass the press. "Media profiling could be viewed as an act of prior restraint," he said in an interview.