No police ban on coverage of Maguindanao massacre trial–spokesman

Maguindanao massacre carnage site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Police officials dragged into the complaint of a journalists group before the Office of the Ombudsman have denied giving orders to ban media coverage of the Maguindanao Massacre trial.

‎Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) filed on Tuesday a complaint against Chief Superintendent ‎Reuben Theodore Sindac, then Senior Superintendent Wilben Mayor and Jail Senior Inspector Lloyd Gonzaga for allegedly stifling press freedom and violating people’s right to access to information.

The group said police and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology authorities have been barring media from covering the Maguindanao massacre trial at the Quezon City regional trial court Branch 221 inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City since August 14.

But Mayor, PNP Public Information Office (PIO) chief, clarified in an interview with INQUIRER.net on Wednesday that the PNP-PIO was not the office authorized to ban media coverage.

Succeeding Sindac, Mayor took over as PIO chief and PNP spokesperson in September. Sindac is currently the PNP Logistics Support Service chief.

“We have nothing to do with such barring. By the virtue of our function as PIO chief, we only disseminate information. We are not in charge of the security,” he said.

He also pointed out that Camp Bagong Diwa, headquarters of the National Capital Region Police Office, is not under the PIO’s jurisdiction.

“The security within the camp’s vicinity falls under the jurisdiction of the concerned authority securing the place,” Mayor said.

“I always respect the role of media society in disseminating information… We can be strict but we make it convenient to the media.”

In a separate text message, Sindac maintained that he has nothing to do with the media coverage ban.

“But I will wait for the complaint,” he said.

In the three-page complaint, FFFJ claimed that Sindac allegedly ordered police officers on the ground to prevent the media from entering the camp.

“Sadly (and suspiciously), media coverage is disallowed by the orders of Police Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac and Police Senior Supt. Wilben Mayor, and by the inaction of Jail Senior Inspector Lloyd Gonzaga just when the criminal proceedings reached the present stage,” it added.

The complaint even said that “even the Supreme Court has allowed media coverage of said massacre trial.”
 

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