LEGAZPI CITY – Media groups in Albay province reminded a Bicol-based government official on the role of private media outlets and the free press not being a threat in dealing with public scrutiny.

The free and responsible press should not be seen as a threat by the government or their spokespersons who should be willing to deal with public scrutiny openly, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) Albay Chapter.

Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Albay Chair Reynard Sevillano said that the bad experience of the local official before does not define the private media as a whole.

The provincial chapters of NUJP and KBP made these reactions after Jessar Adornado, assistant regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol, expressed his contempt for non-government media on Feb. 24 which was broadcast live on government-run media outlet Radyo Pilipinas Albay’s Facebook page.

“I used to prefer talking to our government partners until now. They really should (Mas gusto ko noon kausap hanggang ngayon ang ating government partners. Dapat sila naman talaga),” Adornado said. “They give us support especially in media interviews. They show what we are doing. You can’t get that from private media.”

“There are a lot of things to be done and the government is doing a lot. What you hear that is always positive is from the government state media,” he said as he encouraged his successors to prioritize government media over privately-owned ones.

According to KBP Albay, Adornado’s statements undermine the fundamental role that private media outlets play in providing diverse, independent, and critical perspectives in a democratic society. “Mindset and actions like these only serve to erode the public’s trust in the media, and create an environment where the free flow of information is compromised,” the group said.

“The government should just be fair when it comes to providing essential information. The government media is obviously there to praise all the good things the government does but what about the bad side of it. Obviously they can’t do that because they work for the government,” Sevillano said. “That’s where the private media comes in. They are the representation of the masses, the public, and they are amplifying the voices of the people.”

“This happened just one day before the 39th anniversary of EDSA People Power 1, ironically reminding us of how press censorship undermines people’s right to information, an essential component of disaster response and management,” NUJP Albay said. “The independent media’s factual reporting on both the government efforts and the public’s concerns must be encouraged, not frowned upon, in a democratic country.”

“Even those who are not journalists, they know the responsibility of the media as a watchdog. We expect the agency he represents to be prepared to deal with the effects of calamities and we know how life-affirming the accurate and timely information,” NUJP Albay Chair Mavic Conde said.

‘Public Apology‘

The local journalists and broadcasters demanded a public apology from Adornado for belittling the private media’s role and the dangerous task of reporting from disaster zones.

On February 27, Adornado publicly apologized. “I shall forever support the important role of media, whether public or private,” he said in a statement uploaded on Radyo Pilipinas Albay’s Facebook page, not on his personal account.

“I would appreciate if he just made a video and posted his public apology on his Facebook account,” Sevillano said. He added that Adornado’s sincerity was not enough.

“His apology should be done because it is clear that favoring one group of journalists over another is a violation of press freedom,” Conde said. (DAA)