THE Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) and Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) visited some local media outfits in Bacolod City last week to embark on partnership programs to showcase the good deeds or commendable acts of the policemen.
Superintendent Lea Rose Peña, head of Police Community Relations of Nocppo, said they are proposing to tri-media to accommodate their press releases on commendable acts of policemen in the province.
She clarified it is not compulsory.
It still depends on the editor-in-chief or news chief to have it published or not, Peña said.
"Kung hindi puwede, hindi namin pinipilit na ipublish talaga," (If they won’t publish, we will not force it),” she added.
On October 3, four personnel from Nocppo visited the office of SunStar Bacolod at Barangay Mandalagan and told the staff about their proposal.
They also took a picture of the newspaper staff without asking permission.
SunStar Bacolod editor-in-chief Marchel Espina was not around during the visit.
However, Espina expressed concern on the move of the policemen, as she stressed: “We’re doing our jobs. We are balanced in our reporting.”
She emphasized the visitation is “bordering on intimidation.”
Espina also stressed that SunStar Bacolod had been publishing the police’s accomplishments, operations, and anti-criminality campaign. “We also accommodate their press releases,” she added.
“So what’s the point of visiting the newsrooms? It’s just a waste of government’s resources,” the editor-in-chief claimed.
She added: “The country has more problems right now, like drugs and unresolved killings, but yet, they seemed to prioritize their image.”
Peña confirmed that she instructed some personnel to visit the media outlets after they received a memorandum order from the Philippine National Police (PNP).
She said a formal letter will be sent to the media entities to elaborate further about the context of the proposal.
For his part, Chief Inspector Sherlock Gabana, public relations officer of BCPO, said they started to visit some newsrooms in the city last week and also planning to send a formal letter about the proposal to the media.
Gabana said they also want to highlight the good deeds of police aside from the usual police operations and crimes.
But he also stressed it is not compulsory.
Meanwhile, the local chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said it is deeply concerned with the recent approach of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to conduct “door to door” visits to media outlets all over the country to propose a partnership.
In a statement Sunday, NUJP-Bacolod stressed that “members of the Fourth Estate have a duty to their readers, listeners, and viewers to inform them the truth - not lies, not half-truths.”
“We report the good, the bad, and the ugly. Meaning, we don’t make up stories in favor of anybody, and we don’t make anybody look good on paper, radio, and television,” the group said.
NUJP-Bacolod stressed that the media and the police had been partners. “Journalists had been informing the community about the police’s accomplishments, significant operations, and anti-crime initiatives. We educate the public especially if there are major crimes that are happening around them as it involves the public safety. We had been very objective.”
“Now, the media should not be blamed if it reports critical stories, like drug wars, killings, and corruption. It is their duty to the public to report the truth,” it added.
Government forces must never harass, intimidate or attack journalists who are just doing their jobs, NUJP-Bacolod said.
“Authorities are urged to respect the journalists and their duty to the public. They must not intimidate or restrict our rights to gather and spread information,” the group said.
They also called on their colleagues “to remain steadfast, unwavering and united in our duty and commitment to the public.”