Policemen at Philippine National Police, Camp Crame Headquarters, Quezon City. INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
There is no new directive on barring media from access to police spot reports as allegedly ordered by Philippine National Police chief Dir. Gen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
“I was asking for a copy of that, wala. I will refer to the existing PNP-Media relations policies and manual,” PNP spokesperson Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos said in a press briefing at Camp Crame on Wednesday.
A news report said that the police regional office in Cebu has started to implement the new directive from Camp Crame, denying media the access to sport reports.
“The one that we have is Feb. 18, 2014 as guidelines. We are just reiterating guidelines, kung naging issue man yung sa Cebu, we have PNP-Media relations policies and manual. We adhere to that,” Carlos said.
He explained that they are just reiterating proper handling of documents especially if there are security classifications.
Blotters can still be accessed by reporters.
The PNP spokesperson said that they are releasing press releases, news releases and press statements as part of the guidelines and the release of spot reports will depend on the public information officer or spokesperson.
Carlos said they cannot release spot reports that involve ongoing criminal investigation and cases which include women, children and minors unless there is a court order.
“Ang nire-release namin sa inyo ay press release at statements. These are attachments, hindi yan parte ng talagang nire-release….Doon sa spot report, if it’s an ongoing part criminal investigation hindi yan nire-release,” he said.
The PNP spokesperson also assured that they will continue to issue timely press releases on cases with ongoing investigation.
Other spot reports can be accessed by the media if they want to countercheck the press releases as long as proper requests are made.
“It can be done but to give you an actual copy we have to look at our rules, manual and procedures. Yung getting a copy of the spot report, hindi ho automatic na may kopya kayo,” Carlos said.
“As I’ve said, all you have to do is make the request, which what we are doing with the FOI [Freedom of Information]. Wala ho tayong problema dito sa transparency or accessibility. All we have to do is follow the procedure,” he also said. /je