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GOVERNMENT officials and leaders of the media have
agreed to meet on Wednesday to hammer out “mutually
acceptable” ground rules in the coverage of crisis
situations to address issues that arose between law
enforcers and some media personalities at last week’s
Peninsula standoff.
Presidential Management Staff head Cerge Remonde said in
a news briefing the lunch meeting being organized by the
government in coordination with the Kapisanan ng mga
Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) and other media groups is
envisioned to “come up with mutually acceptable rules of
engagement in the coverage of crisis situations.”
In
connection with the
Peninsula incident, the National Press Club filed a complaint at the Commission on
Human Rights against Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and
the National Police for infringement of the freedom of
the press.
Journalists and television news crew were handcuffed and
detained after remaining at the Peninsula Hotel beyond
the 3 p.m. deadline set by authorities.
Sen. Mar
Roxas II said this has a “chilling effect” on press
coverage and is improper and dangerous because “as
history shows, press freedom is usually the first
casualty in any political conflict leading to
democracy’s demise.”
Roxas
and fellow senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III filed a
resolution seeking an inquiry into the “police
processing” of journalists in the same incident where
they were handcuffed and taken to their Bicutan
headquarters.
Both
said the matter should not be trivialized since “it goes
against the spirit and intent of the Constitution.”
Roxas
reminded the administration of Presidnt Arroyo, which
was brought to power by Edsa 2, to be “mindful of the
past.”
Remonde
said part of the discussions would expectedly be on “the
manner of coverage, the deployment of media during
crisis situations so that the media couldn’t be used
both as a human shield and as a platform for sedition
which is against our penal laws.”
He said
that on the government side, those who have confirmed
attendance, among others, are Vice President Noli de
Castro, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes
Esperon Jr., and National Police Chief Gen. Avelino
Razon Jr.
“I think
that both should recognize the rule of each other. The
government deeply recognizes the role of media to
provide public information and respects press
freedom....As far as we are concerned, we want to
constructively engage all the democratic institutions in
this country, especially the press,” Remonde said.
He also
said that there have been preset rules of coverage when
it comes to crisis situations, where national security
could be compromised by irresponsible reporting, but
these might have been forgotten last Thursday “in the
heat of the moment.”
The
former KBP chairman said the dialogue would revisit such
rules, among other agenda that the KBP may choose to
bring up. Remonde said the dialogue is not meant to
become a venue for finger-pointing and blame tossing.
That may
be so but the NPC said the arrest and detention of the
journalists “were arbitrary, without legal basis and
violated a citizen’s right against warrantless arrest.”
It cited
provisions of law where it says there are only three
instances when a person may be arrested without a
warrant—“when the person is caught in the act of
committing a crime, when the police is in pursuit of a
suspect in a crime that has just been committed and the
pursuing officers have personal knowledge of the crime,
and when a person to be arrested is a fugitive from
justice. None of these applied in the arrest of the
journalists.”
Their
complaint was received and the CHR immediately scheduled
a hearing for Thursday, December 6, and gave journalists
who were arrested by the police until Wednesday to
submit their affidavits to support the NPC complaint.
Also
named respondents in the NPC complaint were PNP Chief
Razon, National Capital Region Police Office chief Geary
Barias, and unnamed PNP officers and policemen involved
in the arrest of journalists after the Peninsula siege.
NPC
president Roy Mabasa said the NPC filed the complaint to
protect not only media practitioners but also ordinary
Filipinos who believe in freedom of the press and
information and who have the right to be informed of
matters of national significance.
In an
interview with radio dzMM, Commissioner Purification
Quisumbing, who was out of the country during the
incident, said, “It was really embarrassing seeing media
[people] being arrested with handcuffs. You can rest
assured that we will address the issue.” |
