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Thursday, September 22, 2005
Expert scores media interference in investigations
The interference of some media practitioners in the police’s crime scene investigation contributes to the “flawed investigation system” in the country, said an expert on forensic pathology.
Dr. Raquel B. Rosario-Fortun of the University of the Philippines said the media’s enthusiasm in getting a scoop and a dramatic photograph of the incident, to the extent of crossing the police line, only leads to tampered pieces of evidence and eventual ruin of the state’s case.
She also stressed the need to raise awareness of the importance of forensic and physical evidence, rather than just relying on testimonial and witnesses’ account of a criminal incident.
Fortun spoke before members of Cebu’s media yesterday at the Marcelo B. Fernan Press Center as part of the Cebu Press Freedom Week celebration.
Fortun, though, fell short of saying that the media should be more responsible in reporting forensic cases. She urged the working press to learn to respect the police line by not going beyond it just to get a good shot of the crime.
Serious implications
“You may not know this, but you are putting the case at risk. Too much media interference has serious implications to forensic investigation,” Fortun said.
While she recognizes the freedom of the press in getting information and relaying this to the public, Fortun said the media should also be responsible in gathering information that they need.
Fortun even lamented that some media organizations fail to respect human dignity when it publishes gory photographs of the dead.
She said politicians also contribute to this practice, with no less than the President and top Cabinet and police officials posing with the dead in order to get a favorable publicity on the incident.
Not props
“The photographers have so much access to the crime scene, which should not have been the case. Photographers, policemen and government officials must learn that dead bodies, evidence and the accused are not props,” Fortun said.
Aside from media interference, the lack of a death investigation system, probes not being science-based, and the policy of “no aggressive complainant, no case” add up to the defective investigation system in the country.
She said the police’s paraffin test, a process to know whether the person had fired a gun, is about 50 years obsolete compared to the processes in developed countries.
Fortun also said the police should try to stop its “bad practice” of just looking for witnesses to the crime, have these witnesses describe the physical features of the suspect, and then the authorities picking up persons who look similar to the cartographic sketch.
Instead of relying too much on persons who claim to have witnessed the incident, Fortun said the police should also learn to appreciate forensic evidence.
She cited the murder case of actress Nida Blanca, which solely relied on the claim of Philip Medel, who earlier admitted to the killing but later recanted his statements.
Since the police relied too much on Medel’s statements, the prosecution’s case crumbled after Medel recanted his earlier claim that he was among those who killed the actress. (GN)
(September 22, 2005 issue)
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