Maj. Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, the former Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Office 8 regional director, was recently appointed as the new PNP chief. While so much is expected of him in the national front, media people in Eastern Visayas remain apprehensive.
Marbil, who was regional head from August 2022 to May 2023, is a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1991. Before his April 1 appointment as chief PNP, Marbil was head of the Directorate for Comptrollership in Camp Crame. He was said to have been the recommendee of House Speaker Martin Romualdez who is from Eastern Visayas.
During the Department of Interior and Local Government's clean-up call when police were suspected of drugs involvement, Marbil was one of the first 42 PNP officers who submitted their courtesy resignation.
In doing so, Marbil was quoted as saying, “We do not condone involvement in any illegal drug activities among our ranks.”
During his Region 8 stint, Marbil was gleaned to be an upright leader who was very particular with the image the police force projected. He conducted surprise inspections just to see if the local police are wearing their uniforms properly that even the smallest police stations did not escape this.
Discriminated
While he was perceived by his police officers as stickler to rules and disciplinarian, the force also loved him for being protective and taking care of their needs. This father image rubbed media the wrong way leading to animosities with some local personalities.
This prompted local media to ask the question, will he behave and treat national media as he did in Eastern Visayas?
While he was not exactly a darling to EV media, he made it worse by playing favorites to the point of being accused of deliberately hiding important information from legitimate reporters.
“He was unreachable for comments and deliberately was hard to access,” newsmen in the region would describe him.
Some media networks were deprived access and were deliberately left out from news feeds and access by his people, leading to charges of censureship as only selected media friendly to them were given accommodation.
Formal letter complaints were not answered. Formal requests for accreditation were not answered.
“Many independent media felt PNP treated them like they did not exist.” said a veteran local journalist.
Violation of RA 6713
Eastern Visayas Media without Borders, an organization of media practitioners. Also allegedly submitted a letter directly to Marbil but there was no response.
To follow up on an application to be part of the local PNP press corps was very tedious. Aside from documentary requirements, it was believed that PNP conducted rigorous background investigation which many felt to be impinging on the personal lives of journalists here.
In Republic Act 6713, government offices are compelled to act promptly on letters and requests thus, "All public officials and employees shall, within 15 working days from receipt thereof, respond to letters, telegrams or other means of communications sent by the public." The reply must also mention action or actions taken on the request.
Face the National Media
Is Marbil anti-media?
Despite the insistence of legitimate media organizations and journalists to cover the PNP in Region 8, they mentioned feeling "insulted" and "discriminated" by the office of Marbil for reasons beyond their comprehension.
Due to this, several media practitioners felt belittled if not insulted for the outright discrimination.
Moving past discrimination suffered at the time of Marbil in the region, local media is praying that no such experience befall the national media for the sake of transparency.
Hiding the truth is reason corruption thrives in our government.
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYon8CoverStory #AntiMediaAtTheTop