NCRPO chief: I didn’t kick media out

MANILA, Philippines — The newly installed head of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said that he was not “antimedia” after he took a lot of flak for ordering reporters to vacate a room they had turned into a press office at a police station in Quezon City.

In a press briefing on Monday, acting NCRPO chief Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas apologized to members of the NCRPO Press Club.

But he insisted that the room — supposedly the satellite office of the NCRPO at the second floor of the Kamuning Police Station — was for the police.

“I didn’t kick them out. I am just taking what’s rightfully ours,” Sinas said.

He asked reporters: “What if I also put policemen in the place where your editors are?”

“I don’t care if they’re mad at me. If they feel offended because the previous commanders allowed them [to use the room], I can’t help it,” he added.

Sinas offered the displaced reporters a space at the NCRPO headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, where he said “they should have been located in the first place.”

Last week, he told the media that he would not be giving one-on-one interviews nor would he be taking calls from them, unlike previous NCRPO directors.

“I am not antimedia … I just want orderliness,” he said.