KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Journalists who joined last week's three-day coverage of the plight of the evacuees in Maguindanao denied reports they were given "pocket money" by groups related to Moro rebels.

The group, in a statement issued Saturday, said a text message allegedly sent to some reporters by Colonel Jonathan Ponce, spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, claimed the journalists who participated in the "State of the Bakwits" coverage were given pocket money by an organization that has links with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

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"The invitation clearly stated who the organizers were. Efforts to discredit our coverage by attempting to discredit the organizing groups will not be viewed kindly by the public especially since the case of the bakwits is a matter of national and international interest," the group said.

Based on the invitation, the coverage was organized by the Mindanao ComStrat and Policy Alternatives, MindaNews, Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD), National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), Peace and Conflict Journalism Network (Pecojon), Oblate Media's I-Watch, and the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project (PHRRP).

The statement said the joint coverage of Mindanao and Manila journalists was intended to focus public attention on a humanitarian tragedy that they believed has not been given the attention it deserves.

The coverage, it said, was prompted by persistent and alarming reports of alleged human rights violations like food blockades, illegal arrests, disappearances and summary executions; and that non-government and humanitarian organizations, even media, were also reportedly being prohibited from going to evacuation centers presumably to protect them from hostilities between government troops and rebel forces.

"We came to validate these reports and to get a solid grasp of the actual situation in the evacuation centers so that concerned authorities will be able to appreciate more fully, and respond appropriately to, the complex problem of internal displacement in Maguindanao," the statement said.

But before they could reach the place, they were blocked by soldiers manning the highway in Barangay Kitango in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town.

When they were stopped, the group said the checkpoint personnel said nothing about "clearing operations."

"Curiously, it was just the media vehicles that were stopped at the checkpoint. If, indeed, there were improvised explosive devices on the roadside, why media should be given preferential protection?" the group asked.

Among the signatories to the statement issued by the group were Charina Sanz of the Mindanao ComStrat, Carolyn Arguillas of the MindaNews, Oblate priest Eduardo Vasquez of the I-Watch, Red Batario of the CCJD, Ma. Aurora Fajardo of the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project, Nonoy Espina of the NUJP, Ryan Rosauro of the Pecojon, and freelance journalist and Bantay Ceasefire volunteer Romy Elusfa, secretariat of the SOB coverage, as reference. (MCM)