It’s nice to know that the mediamen arrested by the police during the Manila Peninsula standoff were finally set free. After all, they were there to cover what transfired during and after the supposed declaration of a new government by the accused Magdalo group led by Senator Antonio Trillanes VI, a former navy officer, along with his co-accused military officers facing criminal charges in a Makati City court.
Just how shameful, if not downright furstrating to see on the international broadcast that policemen were abrasively herding mediamen into a waiting police vehicle that brought them to Bicutan for further questioning and identification.
Higher police officials were saying that the arrest was not really to single out mediamen, particularly a popular broadcast network whose news coverages were allegedly critical to what the police and the armed forces are doing, under the regime of President Gloria Arroyo.
Now, it’s good to hear, too that the National Press Club of the Philippines had come out of its hibernation to criticize the government for what it perceived as a blatant disregard of the country’s freedom of the press and expression. What a sight to see that mediamen, including newshens, were forced to lay prostrate on the hotel’s floor lobby while the putchists were being accounted for as the apprehensions were being carried out.
Of all places in the world, it is only in the Philippines where mediamen are prone to arrests just because they’re doing their responsibilities for public consumption. You know what? The move came about after the police were tipped off that some of the Magdalo soldiers facing charges at the Makati City court posed as mediamen, while others were wearing disguises in order to enter the hotel, along with legitimate mediamen covering the siege. Awlaful it may seem, but that is media coverage, Philippine-style. Common!!!
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