PNP admits something wrong in procedure by police in visiting journalists at home
The Philippine National Police (PNP) admitted that something is wrong with the procedure by the policeman who visited a journalist in his house recently.
"As I said, we are not making excuses. Something is really wrong with the procedure," Philippine National Police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said in a radio interview on Sunday.
"On the part ng NCRPO we learned that in the district offices there are different PNP press corps just like in Camp Crame... there are media vanguards created to coordinate with the media. The recent unadvised visit made by the policeman in the house of some media practitioners is being investigated," she said.
Fajardo explained that the visit by the policemen in the house of a journalist in the National Capital Region (NCR) was made following the recent killing of Percival Mabasa, better known as Percy Lapid.
"After that incident our regional director (NCRPO Regional Director Brig. Gen Jonnel Estomo) issued an order, in adherence to the order of Chief PNP Gen. Rodolfo Azurin to enhance the coordination with the media to prevent harassment incidents against the media," she said.
"But on the part of NCRPO, they were ordered to coordinate with the media in their respective areas of jurisdiction to conduct threat assessment to determine if there is an existing threat against them," she added.
Fajardo said Estomo also issued a formal public apology because of the unexpected house visit by policeman.
"In his statement, he emphasized that they are very much concerned in the safety and welfare of our media practitioners and in their desire to really reach out to our media friends and their families to find out if there is an existing threats... i but there were different interpretation on how to proceed with this effort to reach our to our media friends," she said.
Fajardo said the police were able to visit the house of a journalist in Metro Manila in coordination with the local barangay.
"Even our other colleagues in the PNP are also really concerned that there should really be a coordination before the visitation and I learned from the chief of police that they really do not know the address (journalist). They just coordinated with the barangay to know if there are media practitioners in their area," she said. Robina Asido/DMS
