No Journalist in Military OB, AFP General Says

Top military officials deny that there are journalists in their Order of Battle (OB). The denial came in the wake of reports about journalists being mowed down allegedly by military and police authorities. In a forum, media leaders and AFP officials agreed in principle to forge a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding (MMoU) that seeks to guarantee the protection of the press from harassment.

By Karl G. Ombion and Edgar A. Cadagat
Bulatlat.com/Cobra-Ans

No journalist is in the Order of Battle (OB) of the military.

Gen. Ernesto Carolina, Armed Forces deputy chief of staff, revealed thus to newsmen in a forum in Manila last June 26.

Carolina said there journalists’ names may land in military reports especially when they cover insurgency- or war-town areas. It is possible that law-level informers and intelligence agents may have monitored them interviewing some personalities who are on the military’s list, he said.

“But these are raw information which have got to be verified and if, indeed, a journalist is on the OB, it is such a top secret report which are not easily known,” the military’s second-most ranking officer said.

Raw reports are classified as green information, and if more reports come it could turn to yellow, then orange and red which could mean high alert and immediate follow-up.

Carolina, who was commander of AFP units in Mindanao and later in Southern Luzon, also said that the military may adopt the practice of enrolling embedded journalists in their units soon.

The practice became the mode of coverage in the recent U.S.-led war against Iraq where hundreds of journalists were assigned to units of the invading U.S. and British armies instead of being allowed to conduct their own independent coverage.

The press forum opened a three-day seminar on press freedom and union organizing at the Executive Plaza Hotel sponsored by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

In the same forum, NUJP leaders and participants proposed the signing of a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding (MMoU) with the AFP which would ensure that journalists are protected from harassments and threats from the military as well as police authorities.

Both sides are set to discuss the matter soon.

Cases of harassment

Carolina’s denial and the proposed MMoU came up following complaints aired in the same forum about the harassment of journalists.

College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) president Ronalyn Olea revealed an increasing number of campus journalists being subjected to harassments and threats by government, military and police authorities.

Among CEGP officials subjected to harassments were their Northern Luzon regional coordinator, who was arrested by the military on charges that she was a top-ranking rebel leader, Olea said.

Cagayan de Oro-based journalist Herbie Gomez, who was briefly detained last month after a municipal official filed libel charges against him and another reporter, said this was a form of harassment carried out to force journalists into silence or self-censorship.

But Carolina and Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, AFP spokesperson, denied there were conscious efforts from the AFP to target journalists or to prevent them from covering militant affairs including field operations.

Journalists present also bewailed the fact that while the media as the so-called Fourth Estate is conceded as among the most powerful of institutions, those responsible for the killing of many journalists since years back have not been prosecuted.

Among the well-known cases is that of hard-hitting journalist, Edgar Damalerio of Pagadian City.

But physical harm the journalists face is part of the risks they have to face in the profession, Carolina said, adding it is this sector which is the most protected here and worldwide.

He discouraged media practitioners from venturing so close in the line of fire especially in the strife-torn areas of Mindanao. Bulatlat.com / Cobra-Ans

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