PNP asks Palace to tap PIA for media monitoring

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has asked Malacañang to tap the Philippine Information Agency to monitor print and broadcast media to ensure news reports will not "exacerbate the instability of the country."

"We are not skilled on media operation so we ask the higher ups to let the PIA do the monitoring," Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr., PNP spokesman, said.

However, Pagdilao maintained the PNP did not "control" the operations of the opposition newspaper Daily Tribune, which was raided by police at past midnight Friday.

"They (Tribune) continue their operation," he said. "It was only a temporary takeover as part of the General Order No. 5. We are not curtailing freedom of the press."

PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao said the Tribune has been "engaging in a concerted effort and systematic conspiracy with known elements to bring down the duly constituted government since May 2004, which renders it (a) clear and present danger to the country and its people."

Earlier, Lomibao said media organizations might face government takeover if they print or broadcast news reports that do not conform to standards set by General Order No. 5.

General Order No. 5, issued by President Arroyo on the basis of Proclamation 1017 which places the entire country under a state of emergency, directs the military and police to maintain public peace, order and safety and prevent and suppress lawless violence.

Media practitioners noted that the PNP and the government should not interfere in the operation of media organizations and should instead allow self-regulation.

Although the AFP had claimed to had crushed a coup attempt in an effort to oust Mrs. Arroyo, the government refused to lift the state of national emergency.

During a press conference held at Newsdesk Cafe in Quezon City, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) underscored the increasing threats to press freedom with the takeover of The Daily Tribune, and casing of other publications and television networks by police, aside from reported surveillance of media personalities.

"We are very alarmed. Some of us are wondering for how long will this kind of atmosphere prevail... The NUJP is enjoining all our colleagues and members of the civil society to take a stand on Proclamation 1017," an NUJP official said.

The NUJP, in a statement, then called for solidarity among the media organizations and personalities to protest the "crackdown on Philippine media."

"We call on all our colleagues in print, broadcast and digital journalism worldwide to support Philippine media in this dark hour. Please add you voice to our protest," the NUJP said.

"Let us collectively condemn the crackdown on Philippine media and remind Mrs. Arroyo that no country can be free to prosper if its media is silenced and cowed," it added.

Former UP College of Mass Communication dean Luis Teodoro noted the impact of the President’s proclamation on the media and its workers.

He said that Proclamation 1017 might render media organizations and media professionals to be extra careful due to the sense of intimidation brought by the decree.

Teodoro, however, suggested that journalists should not be intimated and just continue to work the way they have been working.

He said that Proclamation 1017 is supposed to be merely "a statement of what’s going on" in the country.

"But it seems to me it’s going further than that (because of) the arrest of some members of Congress and people who are allegedly involved in coup plots," he added.

"But the most worrying of all is what happened to the Tribune (Saturday). I think it’s an assault to the free press and unconstitutional," he said.

Teodoro said that members of the press should unite on the basis of freedom of the press, which, he noted, "is (now) under threat."

Teodoro also wondered what standard and guidelines the PNP is referring to in asserting its authority to recommend a government takeover of certain media outfits during the state of emergency.

"We can see (the threat to press freedom) from the statements of the PNP. The statement that media organizations will be taken over unless they hue to the standards that government has set. I’m wondering what the standards will be," he said.

"I am sure they are not talking about the standards of accuracy, fairness, accountability and press autonomy. I don’t think these are the standards they are talking about. I don’t know what they mean by standards."

"The effects of Proclamation 1017 (on the media) will be seen in the coming days," he also said.

Columnist Manuel Quezon III, for his part, warned of the "beginning of the systematic intimidation of media as in martial law days."

"The capacity to deliver the news is being compromised because it is based on very unclear rules (under Proclamation 1017)," he said.

"The people who cannot write, edit, people whose main job is propaganda are being tasked to impose on the media what counts as fair news. This is the beginning of the systematic intimidation of media as in martial law days. We have to stop this before it reaches fruition."

The Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom, Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), and the Reporters Without Borders (RWB) likewise expressed alarm over the contents of Proclamation 1017, particularly its effect on press freedom.

In separate statements distributed during the press conference, the foreign press groups supported condemnation to moves to curtail the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, including the freedom of the press.

"Curtailing freedoms enshrined in the Constitution will not solve the political and economic crisis. It will only exacerbate the crisis," the Center said.

"Therefore, we demand the full respect of these freedoms including the right of media to bring the truth to the people." — With Katherine Adraneda, Christina Mendez