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Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Police ‘pressured’ to raid PCIJ office
After The Daily Tribune, the police is allegedly planning to raid the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), for posting the “Hello Garci” tape and transcripts on its website.
During yesterday’s hearing of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, PCIJ executive director Sheila Coronel said a police informant she identified as Jonathan Tiongco asked the Quezon City Police District last week to endorse to a Quezon City court the issuance of a search warrant against PCIJ.
But the judge turned it down, Coronel said.
The application for a search warrant was repeated last Monday but was again rejected, Coronel added. Tiongco reportedly claimed that the warrant would be issued tomorrow for an “inciting to sedition” case he intends to file.
Coronel branded the efforts to get a search warrant as harassment to stop journalists from criticizing the government.
In May last year, the PCIJ posted the three-hour “Hello Garci” tape on its website which, Tiongco claimed, contributed to public outrage.
Coronel, however, said that Tiongco is only doing everything to get back at PCIJ after they came out with an article about his alleged involvement in a criminal act.
The Senate justice committee is looking into how Proclamation 1017 affected the media, amid fears the administration is cracking down on its critics.
Before the start of the Senate inquiry, Sen. Joker Arroyo, committee chairman, criticized PNP Chief Arturo Lomibao for not attending the proceedings for the third time, using Executive Order (EO) 464 as an excuse.
Lomibao or anyone from the Philippine National Police (PNP) should answer for “destroying the sanctity of the press” without any basis, said the senator.
Also in the hearing, Ninez Cacho-Olivarez, publisher of The Daily Tribune, accused the policemen who raided their office in Manila of taking important materials there, including a compact disc (CD) that contains information about Malacañang’s plan to declare an emergency.
Illegal
Olivarez maintained the raid was illegal because the policemen were not armed with any search warrant when they stormed into the newspaper’s office.
According to former senator Rene Saguisag, lawyer for The Daily Tribune, the police could not justify their acts—unless the writ of habeas corpus had been suspended.
Under the President’s General Order 5, Lomibao has said the police is allowed to take over any media office that released information that could cause instability.
But Senator Arroyo said the police actions against the press—apart from raiding the tribune, the police also sent teams to selected broadcast offices—were worse than when the country was under martial rule.
He called on Filipinos to stay on guard. (Sunnex)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 15, 2006 issue)
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