US ambassador's aides rough up cameramen, reporters

MANILA, Philippines - Journalists covering the defense beat were reportedly manhandled yesterday by security aides of US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. and by military personnel assigned in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Medical Center along V. Luna Road in Quezon City.

The Filipino aides, who were wearing blue barongs, allegedly shoved cameramen and television reporters as they were interviewing Thomas, who attended the inauguration of a laboratory funded by the US.

Some soldiers reportedly joined the US envoy’s aides in pushing the journalists away even as Thomas himself had agreed to grant an interview. The AFP’s public affairs office had invited journalists, particularly members of the Defense Press Corps (DPC), to cover the inauguration.

TV5 cameraman Benjie Dujan said a security escort was covering the lens of his camera during the interview. He said the escort tried to tilt the camera upwards while Thomas was answering reporters’ questions.

“We did not seek to harm the ambassador. We know our limits. Still, these escorts shoved me and my partner Eddie Mendoza,” he said. Mendoza, an assistant cameraman of TV5, said a security aide chopped him on the neck while he was taking a video of the envoy.

A female television reporter, who requested anonymity, said an escort “accidentally” touched her breasts twice. Another cameraman said an Army colonel threatened to hit him if he came close to Thomas.

As Thomas’ aides were shoving the journalists, cameramen yelled expletives that caught the US envoy’s attention. “No profanities,” a visibly shocked Thomas said before boarding his vehicle.

Reporters failed to get the identities of the escorts and the officers who manhandled them. 

TV5 reporter Erel Cabatbat said they “were treated as if we are terrorists who are out to kill the ambassador. The bodyguards of the ambassador are Filipinos yet they treated us like foreigners. I was surprised.”

The DPC has forwarded its complaint to the AFP, and plans to write to the US embassy about the incident.

LCmdr. Jerome Rommel Ochoco, chief information officer of the AFP Medical Center, apologized to reporters and promised to work to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Ochoco, who is confined at the AFP Medical Center due to kidney problems, said they will invite journalists during planning sessions for events that will be attended by public figures.