ICPO ends probe on raid of Aksyon Radyo in Iloilo

CEBU, Philippines - The Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) decided to terminate the conduct of investigation on the controversial raid by the SWAT of the Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo station at 2 a.m. last Sunday.

Senior Supt. Ruperto Floro, ICPO director, confirmed this yesterday morning citing that their move was a way to dispel speculations of biases and partiality. Allegations of a whitewash could not be avoided because the SWAT members are organic personnel of the ICPO, he said. 

As ICPO ended its probe, evidences and statements gathered will be properly turned over to Police Regional Office-6, Floro said, adding that they were almost 50 percent done with the investigation.

Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo could also file separate administrative and criminal charges against those involved. "We would welcome these charges. At least, they (SWAT team) would be given a chance to be heard at the proper forum," Floro said.

SWAT operatives barged into the radio station of the Manila Broadcasting Corporation at the Carlos Uy Building along B. Aquino Ave. of Mandurriao district in this city. The raid was done after the SWAT got information on a group of armed men that allegedly entered the station. These men were reportedly involved in a bar melee that left four persons wounded.

The SWAT operatives allegedly trained their guns on the station personnel, such as the technician, reporter, newsroom men and security guard, subjected them to a body search, strip off their clothes before ordering them at gunpoint to crawl out of the building. Another guard of an adjacent office in the building was also not spared by the raiding team, as he was allegedly kicked in the head, handcuffed and dragged out of the building.

Meanwhile, Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, Jr., PRO6 director, will now have a hand in designating a team to conduct the probe on what others claimed as an assault on the radio station. Cruz said he designated Chief Supt. Manuel Felix, PRO-6 deputy director for administration, to head the panel that will do a pre-charge investigation against the seven-man SWAT team and their superiors to determine their liability.

The Iloilo Press Club (IPC) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) have denounced the "excessive use of force and unreasonable assault" by the SWAT of the ICPO.

IPC president Francis Allan Angelo, NUJP national director Nestor Burgos and NUJP-Iloilo chairman Bert Ladera have issued a statement the other day, denouncing the act of the SWAT operatives.

"We find such show of force uncalled for and completely unnecessary since the (radio) personnel already submitted themselves voluntarily to the raiding team. They are not even suspects in a crime as the police would like to portray. It was even the station personnel who called the police for assistance and later explained that the young men who sought refuge in the building were unarmed and suffered gunshot wounds which needed immediate medical treatment," said the statement.

"The incident inside AksyonRadyo is reminiscent of Martial Law era raids and lockdown of media outlets which have no place in a civil and democratic society. Such deplorable actions translate to virtual attacks on freedom of the press and can be considered violations of human rights as a whole.

The IPC and NUJP further called on the DILG, Commission on Human Rights, NAPOLCOM and People's Law Enforcement Board to "conduct an immediate, full, and impartial investigation and enforce appropriate sanctions against SWAT personnel involved in the incident."

Malacañang, for its part, said it will also look into the SWAT raid at Aksyon Radyo station. Even Negros Occidental Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer, House committee on public order and safety, also vowed to investigate the incident after getting initial reports from the media. — (FREEMAN)