Palace hits Reuters’ ‘bad journalism’ in QC ‘Davao Boys’ report

Malacañang on Thursday described as “bad journalism” the detailed Reuters report on the killings carried out by the so-called “Davao Boys” in the narcotics unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque slammed Reuters, saying he was only given a limited time to respond when asked for Malacañang’s comment.

“She (Reuters reporter) gave me an ultimatum of one hour. I did not meet the ultimatum. And therefore, I would not comment on the story because that’s bad journalism. You don’t write a story and give government a timeline to respond, otherwise, they will go ahead and publish a story. I though that was really foul,” he said in a Palace briefing.

Roque found it “arrogant” that Reuters did not wait for Malacañang’s comment.

“[S]he did not give us the opportunity to speak and it was really rather arrogant. You give me your… you respond within the hour, despite the fact that we explained that we’re about to have our regular press briefing,” he said.

“[S]he wanted me to comment on something that I do not know about and she gave me a deadline minutes before I was scheduled to face you here in Malacañang Press Corps,’ he added.

Roque initially said he doesn’t want to “comment on bad journalism.”

“It’s different from no comment,” he said.

But when pressed to give his reaction, the Palace official said the government was not “sitting down” on allegations like this.

“What I do know is there is a Writ of Amparo issued by the Supreme Court against the police station. So the response is we’re not taking it sitting down. Government, when that petition for Amparo was filed in the Supreme Court, did not oppose the petition and that’s why the Supreme Court issued the Writ of Amparo,” he said.

The Duterte administration, he said, does not condone the actions of abusive policemen under the government’s war on drugs.

“So question: Is the government sanctioning the alleged operations of this Davao group? Clearly not because in that petition, government did not oppose it. In effect, government agreed with the allegations of the petition and that’s why there was a writ of protection issued,” he said.

“That’s why I’m very, very upset at that really bad journalism of Reuters,” he added.

Roque reiterated the oft-repeated line of the President to defend his policemen who are doing their duty pursuant to the law.

“Well, that’s why if the investigation concludes that the police operation complained about was pursuant to the law, then the President will stand by the policemen,” he said. /je