Negros Media Demands Broadcaster’s Delisting from AFP Order of Battle

Various media organizations in Bacolod City have condemned the inclusion of Julius Mariveles, news director of DYEZ Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod in the list of top communist and New People’s Army leaders allegedly drawn up by the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Central Command (AFP Cencom).

BY KARL G. OMBION
Bulatlat 

BACOLOD City – Various media organizations here have condemned the inclusion of Julius Mariveles, news director of DYEZ Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod in the list of top communist and New People’s Army leaders allegedly drawn up by the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Central Command (AFP Cencom).

Various media groups Article 3 Alliance, Negros Press Club, Negros Media Council for Press Freedom (NMCPF), Correspondents, Broadcasters and Reporters Association-Action News Service (Cobra-ANS), Liga Journalista, and Congress of Active Media Practitioners (CAMP) -- have demanded that Mariveles’ name be immediately deleted from the AFP’s order of battle.

The groups demand that the AFP assure his safety and the unhampered practice of his profession. They also urged the intelligence services of both the military and police to “rigorously review” their orders of battle to prevent such a recurrence and consult the media about the veracity of their accusations against journalists.

The Article 3 Alliance revealed that the list, which is dated the first semester of 2005, identifies Mariveles as secretary-general of the Negros chapter of the party-list group Bayan Muna (Toiling Masees) and among purported leaders of the revolutionary movement on Negros.

It is therefore a relatively recent list, the alliance stated.

The alliance however, stated that Mariveles has been a full-time media practitioner since 2002, but admitted that he used to be secretary-general of the Negros chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), not Bayan Muna.

The allince further stated that it has reason to believe that the continued inclusion of Mariveles’ name in the list is more than a case of mere oversight. “We see no way the military could have overlooked this simple fact since, in the practice of his profession, Mr. Mariveles regularly interviewed ranking military and police officers on Negros,” it stated.

“The only conclusion we can draw, therefore, the statement added, is that Mr. Mariveles' continued inclusion in the list is either a case of, at best, incompetence or negligence, which simply confirms the derisive description of military intelligence as an oxymoron, or a deliberate targeting of a journalist the military considers a nuisance or, worse, an enemy of the state.

“Given the continued threats against press freedom from this administration since even before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared her short-lived state of national emergency and the growing list of activists murdered in the country, we worry that, unless rectified immediately, the inclusion of Mr. Mariveles in the list constitutes a continuing clear and present danger to his life and to his unhampered practice of our profession.”

The alliance stressed that, aside from Mr. Mariveles, there are also other legal personalities included in the list. “While they may not be part of the media community, we do worry about the implication of their continued inclusion in the list for civil liberties and the rule of law,” it concluded. Bulatlat

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