Troops secure TV stations

Troops were deployed Friday night to secure a power utility and several television stations amid reported continuing threats to the government.

The military’s action highlights the prevailing security concerns despite official statements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that the threat has been resolved and the situation has normalized.

The television stations under watch are ABS-CBN-2, GMA-7, Channels 9 and 13, and government-run NBN-4.

Heavily armed troops are guarding the television networks while a 60-man military team has secured the Transmission Co. (Transco) in Quezon City.

Transco is the power distribution arm of the National Power Corp.

"We deployed our troops to these facilities for their physical protection," Maj. Ramon Zagala, National Capital Region Command spokesman, said.

On the other hand, Zagala said reinforcements from the Army, Navy and the Air Force have pulled out of Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City and returned to their mother units.

"Except for the armored unit, our CDM (Civil Disturbance Management) have been pulled back," he said.

Reinforcement from the Army’s Light Armored Brigade (LAB) based at Camp O’Donnel in Capas, Tarlac are still on standby at Camp Aguinaldo, he added.

The presence of troops at the television networks has triggered fears among civilians of a government plan to take over these facilities.

This apprehension was raised by some media quarters following the raid on the offices of the newspaper The Daily Tribune the other night on T. M. Kalaw street in Ermita, Manila.

However, Col. Tristan Kison, Armed Forces public information chief, assured the public that there is no such plan.

"Soldiers were just there to protect these facilities," he said. "This is not curtailment of press freedom. We are there to secure and to take control."

Troops were deployed in these television networks to secure them from being taken over by anti-government forces that may use their facilities for propaganda, Kison said.

Meanwhile, the Kapisanan ng Mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) has enjoined all its member-TV radio stations to exercise utmost care in performing their duties.

"The KBP leadership enjoins its members to strictly observe the KBP Television and Radio codes that require balanced programming and presentation of news and public affairs," Butch Canoy and Ruperto Nicdao Jr., KBP president and chairman, respectively, said in a statement.

"Coverage of events should be accurate, informative, adequate, and must present all sides. The right to respond must be observed at all times," they said.

Canoy and Nicdao also reminded KBP members that coverage of troop movements has national security implications and lives are at stake.

"Any coverage of this nature should not identify the location of the troops or provide or show identifiable land marks, give troop estimates, identity of troop personnel and destination or direction of troops," the KBP said.