Makabayan seeks House probe of police media visits

The plenary hall of the Batasang Pambansa. (File photo from RTVM Youtube Live)

MANILA, Philippines — The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives wants a probe of the recent home visits of police to journalists, saying they were a violation of privacy rights.

On Monday, the Makabayan lawmakers filed House Resolution No. 484 asking the House Committee on Human Rights to conduct the probe.

This was their reaction to a report that two police officers in plain clothes visited, unannounced, broadcast journalist J.P. Soriano of GMA News at his home in Marikina and asked for his contact details and that of another reporter.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) confirmed that the visits were part of its efforts to secure media workers.

Several media groups said the initiative, while commendable, made reporters uneasy.

“There is a violation of the right to privacy of the journalists against unauthorized or illegal access to and disclosure and use of their personal information,” the Makabayan bloc said in its resolution.

It pointed out that certain conditions were necessary to allow the personal information of an individual to be accessed, as stated in Section 12 of the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

“As the body comprised of representatives of the people, Congress should investigate and protect the Filipinos against the infringement of their right to privacy. The practice of profiling and granting illegal access to and disclosure and use of the personal information of the people to unauthorized individuals and entities poses fear and threat to their lives and safety,” the Makabayan resolution said.

According to the TV journalist, the plainclothes officers asked for his contact number and the address of another reporter.

He then tried to confirm it with authorities, and Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said he would look into the matter.

Eventually, Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo, the NCRPO chief, apologized for the incident, assuring the public that he has asked officers to stop the visits.

The police visits were supposedly prompted by the recent killing of radio commentators Percival Mabasa, more popularly known as Percy Lapid, the host of the online program “Lapid Fire.”

Lapid was killed by still unknown assailants just outside the subdivision he lived in.

Several reporters acknowledged that the intention of the visits might be for their benefit, but they said there were bothered.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said the visits only fueled more anxiety for reporters. It said the police should have coordinated with press clubs, beat offices, or newsrooms.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the unannounced visits appeared similar to the past administration’s Oplan Tokhang, with law enforcers knocking at the homes of drug suspects.

The Makabayan bloc also noted that the visits, along with reports of alleged profiling, cast doubt on the intention of the police.

“These so-called house visits, occurring in the context of other threats and attacks against journalists (17 in the past three months, per NUJP’s count), have the effect of increasing, without due cause and process, police presence near journalists and produce rife opportunities for surveillance on them, thereby casting a shadow of unease, if not fear, upon their vital duties,” Makabayan said.

“This incident is not the first time wherein the personal information of private individuals are being illegally accessed and used by the police and military. In several similar instances, activists, opposition, and critics of the government were subjected to profiling and harassment,” it said.

—WITH A REPORT FROM IRISH PEREZ (TRAINEE)

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