Officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said the police are ready to use “reasonable force” against members of the media who will refuse to leave the area where an emergency situation is taking place.
Chief Superintendent Silverio Alarcio Jr., director of the PNP Directorate for Operations, said reasonable force will be used during a worst-case scenario, wherein members of media would insist on staying in areas of conflict.
“We will use slight force in worst-case scenarios only. We will still find ways to prevent them (media) from getting hurt. We don’t want them to become victims of hostility,” Alarcio said during the Talakayan sa Isyu ng Pulis (TSIP) weekly forum sponsored by the PNP at Camp Crame, Quezon City.
PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said the coverage of situations similar to the takeover by rebel soldiers of the Peninsula Manila hotel, which led to a standoff for several hours in Makati on Nov. 29, 2007, is dangerous.
“Crisis managers isolate the hot zone and they stay at the cold zone. So just like crisis managers, the community and the media should stay at the cold zone,” Bartolome explained.
Bartolome said that if members of the media need information, the PNP would readily help them in gathering details to be able to inform the public through their news reports.
In a memorandum, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said news organizations “may incur criminal liabilities under the law if anyone of your field reporters, news gatherers, photographers, cameramen and other media practitioners disobey lawful orders from duly authorized government officers and personnel during emergencies.”
PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. has supported Gonzalez’s pronouncement that media organizations would be charged if they refuse to follow instructions from authorities during coverage of crisis situations like the Peninsula hotel standoff.
Razon said the PNP’s standard operating procedure is to arrest anybody who would obstruct any police operation.
“We have standard operating procedures and media have ethics. We have a law that says anybody who would not follow instructions (during police operations) could be charged with obstruction of justice,” Razon said.
Razon defended the justice department’s memorandum, saying it was not meant to suppress press freedom but to preserve life and property.
“What freedom is there to talk about if you are dead?” Razon added.