Media will still be arrested if police are defied--Puno Thea Alberto INQUIRER.net
December 05, 2007
MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) A "refusal again" by media to follow police orders in a situation similar to what happened at the siege of the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City, will still lead to their handcuffing and arrest, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said Wednesday.
Puno issued the statement during a dialogue between representatives of media and government at the Manila Peninsula where they had hoped initially to draft guidelines for similar coverages in the future.
Justifying the arrests, Puno said the action taken by police was part of normal police operations.
Earlier on Wednesday, Jake Macasaet of Malaya, Maria Ressa of ABS-CBN and Jessica Soho criticized the handcuffing and treatment of police on those who covered the incident last November 29 when Senator Antonio Trillanes IV led a group of soldiers and civilians in taking over the hotel in Makati City to demand the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo .
PNP Director General Avelino Razon said police also had no intention of suppressing press freedom or impose censorship when they ordered media inside the hotel to get out.
"We were after a rebellion...we want to suppress rebellion, not press freedom…but there are some limitations," said Razon Wednesday, noting that reporters had been allowed to continue their coverage even outside the hotel.
Luchi Cruz-Valdez of ABS-CBN however pointed out that media organizations were answerable for whatever would happen to their staff covering the siege. She added reporters chose to stay because they could still cover.
Aside from Razon and Puno, also present was Cerge Remonde, chief of the Presidential Management Staff.
The dialogue was spearheaded by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP, Association of Broadcasters in the Philippines), whose chairman, Ruperto Nicdao, is the moderator.
The journalists’ arrests after the hotel siege have met widespread condemnation here and abroad and have prompted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to order officials not to “rile” the media “unnecessarily.”
Around 50 journalists, photographers, and cameramen who covered the November 29 hotel siege were arrested and brought to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City "for processing."
"It's all warranted by the provisions of the law. As long as that law is there and as long as it is needed, the PNP would still implement that," said Puno in Filipino.
Puno reiterated that media’s refusal to follow police orders led to the arrests.
During the siege, police ordered media who were still inside the hotel to vacate the area by 3 p.m., the deadline given by law enforcers for Trillanes and company to vacate the hotel.
Some had remained inside until authorities served the arrest warrant on Trillanes for contempt of court after he and his co-accused in a coup de’tat charge over a shortlived mutiny in 2003 walked out of the hearing and proceeded to the Manila Peninsula, which they held for six hours, before it was stormed by combined police and military forces.
