THE call for discipline and threats of criminal liability for libel and cyber libel among legitimate journalists would perhaps be something for the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMs) to consider following the Rizal PNP’s most recent action which effectively deprived legitimate newspapermen access to police stories in the province.
Yes, legitimate journalists have remained under threat. The case of Tribune reporter Neil Adrales Alcober is with all certainty critical because it defeats the very purpose of the law which created the PNP.
Ironically, the PNP has been boasting its slogan – “to serve and protect.”
For one, Rizal PNP-PIO chief Lt. Mariesol Tactaquin doesn't seem to know what media relations is all about. Well, we can’t blame her because she must have been trained on something else – raising doubt on whether she’s capable of building a bridge that would make the PNP and the legitimate media as partners insofar as the anti-crime campaign is concerned.
For the longest time, the working press has been a subject of repression, which includes assassination, trumped-up charges ranging from libel, cyber libel and other fabricated cases, as well as actions deemed adversely affecting the work of the lowly-paid Filipino journos in many places – including Rizal.
As we go to press, the Rizal PNP-PIO has yet to issue an official statement behind Tactaquin’s action.
This police bully is enforcing her own rules of behavior and perhaps, it is time we see her wings clipped, especially because Tactaquin’s actions reflect on the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and adversely affects efforts of National Police Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda to rid the PNP of its bad reputation just because of some few bag eggs.
We are most interested in how the Rizal PNP leadership would deal with the case of media bullying.
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