MEDIA WATCH

UP Profs, NUJP Hit Military, Police Harassment of Lensman

A photojournalist was the first to arrive at the scene of an attack allegedly perpetrated by the New People’s Army in Tarlac. Instead of having a scoop, however, he ended up being accused by the military and police of being in cahoots with the NPA. He was then interrogated and briefly detained. What’s worse, he was prevented from doing his job to inform the people of what happened.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

Thirteen professors of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) led by Dean Nicanor Tiongson condemned the harassment of a photojournalist last October 2 by military and police elements. In a statement, the 13 professors called on the military and the police to “respect the freedom of the press and to allow journalists to freely practice their profession.”

Rene Dilan of The Manila Times was taking pictures of the damage inflicted by armed men on the office of Globe Telecom along the Lapaz-Santa Rosa Road in Maliwalu village, Tarlac City when he was accosted by around 20 elements of the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Dilan said he was questioned about his presence at the site. “They asked me why I was there when the gunfight had just ended,” he said. He said he was accused of being in cahoots with the New People’s Army (NPA) which the military and police suspected to be behind the attack. He was then asked to turn over his equipment.

He explained that an anonymous source called The Manila Times office that an attack had taken place in Tarlac City, prompting the office to send him there immediately.

The military and police, he said, did not believe he got to the site so fast without knowing about the planned attack, to which he replied that travel time had been cut short in the absence of traffic on a weekend. They, however, insisted he could not have reached the area so fast without prior knowledge of the NPA’s plan.

“They suspected me of being a member of the NPA,” he related. “They ordered me to stop taking pictures.”

He was then taken into custody and detained from 12:30 to 2:00 a.m. on Oct. 3. His memory card was also confiscated, he said.

“The action of the military and police is clearly a direct assault on freedom of the press,” the October 7 statement by the UP CMC professors read. “It shows utter ignorance of the workings of the journalism profession. Such red-baiting tactics also reflect the military’s and police’s perception that journalists – particularly those critical of government policies and programs – are part of a so-called grand conspiracy to destabilize the government as while they are only concerned with objectively reporting events.”

The professors who signed the statement called for an impartial investigation into the case and a public apology by the perpetrators of the harassment to Dilan and The Manila Times at the soonest possible time.

“Otherwise, the suspicion will grow that the government does not value press freedom, or worse, that it prefers its suppression by not doing anything to protect it,” the UP CMC professors stated.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) also condemned the incident, according to Jose Torres Jr., who chairs the group’s Committee for the Protection of Journalists. Bulatlat

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