|
Friday, November 30, 2007
Reporters covering Manila hotel takeover detained
MANILA -- More than a dozen of journalists were detained after covering the daylong takeover of a Manila hotel by a group of disgruntled soldiers, raising questions about press freedom in one of Asia's most media-friendly nations.
The government said it wants to ensure that rebel troops, who walked out of their court hearing on charges of taking part in a 2003 failed coup and commandeered an upscale hotel before surrendering, did not slip away among journalists.
Post your comments here on the Makati siege
Media organizations cried foul, saying freedom of speech is constitutionally guaranteed in a nation priding itself with having a lively, freewheeling media system.
"We were just doing our job. This is our right," said Charie Villa, head of news gathering at ABS-CBN, which provided live coverage of the hotel siege throughout the day.
The station's technical crew and at least one reporter were among those detained, together with an Associated Press Television News cameraman.
Noel Alamar of radio DZMM, who was also held by the police, reported that some cameramen of television outfits were held, with the policemen, wearing gas masks, taking their equipment, including their cameras.
Hundreds of journalists swamped the Manila Peninsula Hotel in the capital's financial district, Makati, shortly after word spread that rebel troops were heading there. For seven hours, live TV coverage showed interviews with the soldiers as well as shots of government troops taking positions outside - much to the discomfort of the government.
But several hours after being brought to the police camp, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered National Police Chief Avelino Razon Jr. to immediately release the journalists.
Arroyo said she was informed that some journalists were included in the “custodial investigation” at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City, which she claimed is “part of the ordinary police operations.”
Razon said the rounded up journalists just underwent some kind of processing, adding that journalists were held by the policemen because some members of the Magdalo Group were bearing press identification cards.
“We cannot determine who are the real journalists from the impostors. After the processing, I ordered that they be immediately released,” said Razon. He could not say specifically how long should the journalists be held for the processing.
Detained journalists were released within hours Thursday.
According to Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, the Philippine National Police (PNP) contacted desks of media agencies and asked them to get their people out of the hotel before the assault. “They were wittingly or unwittingly, most of them, obstructing justice,” he said.
When the government asked journalists to leave before security forces stormed the hotel, most refused.
"We begged our friends from media for almost two hours to vacate the premises," Puno said.
"In the first place, it was for the safety of correspondents there. Thank God that a firefight did not break out. But bullets don't choose their victims when they start to fly," he said.
"I don't think it was very wise for people to remain there," said Puno. "Maybe they do not realize that when you stay there you become an obstruction to police officers who are in an operation."
Various media organizations meanwhile criticized the arrest of the journalists covering the standoff.
Amado Macasaet, chairman of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), called the arrest of the media persons “undisguised martial law practice.”
Macasaet said the PPI sees “clear danger” in government’s “seemingly hasty interpretation” that the coverage and reporting of the incident threatens national security.
He said government may just use it as a ground to round up those who took the risk to stay inside the hotel.
Media persons’ refusal to leave the hotel cannot justify the arrest because media exposed themselves to the harm by the forces of the state and chose to do their duty, said Macasaet. He added that those who were outside the hotel but were not arrested were similarly performing their duties.
“We find it lame that the arrest had to be made because there was intelligence information that the ranks of legitimate media have been infiltrated. The very simple thing to do is ask who they work for and check their respective agencies or company,” he said.
“We will continue to fight for press freedom under any kind of threat,” added Macasaet.
Jose Torres Jr., chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), urged the police to stop treating journalists who covered the Magdalo uprising as enemies of the state.
Torres condemned “in the strongest terms” the rounding up of journalists to the National Capital Region Police Office in Bicutan and the confiscation of video footage of the daylong standoff at the Manila Peninsula Hotel.
“We denounce the overkill that led to the tying of the hands of members of ABS-CBN's technical team and reporters in what looked like a virtual arrest. The explanation by police officials and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro that the move was made to prevent the escape of Magdalo troops does not wash,” he said.
Torres said the technical team had superiors who could have been asked to verify their identities.
“While we concede the PNP's right to conduct a thorough investigation of a crime -- and we do not dispute that the takeover of the Peninsula was a crime -- the police ought to follow legal procedures. Invitations to questioning should be differentiated from coercion; journalists have the option to accept the invitation and, certainly, should be accorded the basic right to counsel,” he said.
He added that while the authorities have the right to demand a halt to coverage that could jeopardize the lives of state security forces, “any move for redress should pass through normal channels, involving management of television stations and not lowly ground staff.”
Live footage of the standoff, said Torres, showed that the media did not block authorities from doing their tasks nor did they show any bias for Trillanes and his group. He said the rebels actually complained about media's alleged bias for government.
“It is regrettable that a day that would have given the government a clear-cut political victory would be marred by knee-jerk reactions of the authorities. This government claims it is protecting democracy. It should realize that media is a prime component of the democracy it purports to serve,” he added.
President Arroyo, who took over in 2001, often has had a confrontational relationship with the media.
Last year, when she declared a weeklong state of emergency to crack down on an alleged coup plot, authorities raided the offices of a critical newspaper and troops were deployed around the two largest TV networks. (JMR/VR/Sunnex/With AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao. (November 30, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Biz, sectoral reps welcome strategy session