PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde stressed that his men, who went to the offices of some media outlets in the provinces including this paper, were not asking for favorable coverage, but for coordination and collaboration.
In a press conference Monday, October 8, Albayalde was asked by reporters about the media visits especially in SunStar Bacolod, he pointed out it was never meant to intimidate or ask for a favor.
“Pero this is press freedom, whether it's bad or good, whether it's a bad critic or constructive critic, walang problema yan sa amin. We are not asking for favors dito. We are asking for close coordination and collaboration to help inform the Filipino people kung ano talaga ang dapat malaman ng ating taumbayan,” he said.
SunStar Bacolod editor-in-chief Marchel Espina earlier said the visit of four policemen from the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office was “bordering on intimidation.”
The policemen were proposing for the publication of the PNP’s “good deeds” as it seemed the media reports about them were always negative.
Espina stressed that SunStar Bacolod has been very objective and balance in news reporting.
Albayalde maintained that the visit aims to enhance the relationship between the police and the public, adding that is just a “friendly gesture.”
He also said that policemen were not armed during the visitation.
The National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP) has expressed concern about a directive to police units nationwide to implement a communications program that has seen law enforcers visiting media outfits to seek “partnerships” to “showcase the PNP’s good deeds.”
The NUJP national directorate said: “To be fair, there is nothing wrong about wanting good press.”
“However, it is one thing to cover the PNP’s accomplishments, and the media have never been remiss about giving credit where it is due. It is a totally different matter, though, to seek to recruit the media in a campaign meant to spruce up the service’s image,” the group said.
NUJP added: “The truth is, the best way – the only way, in fact – for the PNP to improve its standing and earn the public’s trust is simply to fulfill its sworn duty to serve and protect the citizenry. It fails to do so and no amount of image building can hope to succeed.”