BACOLOD City – Journalists have the duty to report the truth – not lies or half-truths.
Marchel Espina, president of the local chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), fielded this statement after four policemen from the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) went to the newsroom of SunStar Bacolod on Oct. 3 as part of their “door-to-door” approach for a media partnership proposal.
Espina, also the editor-in-chief of SunStar Bacolod, said the officers want them to publish the “good deeds” of the police.
The policemen said they would send the news outlet a letter for the proposal after their director signs it.
Espina was not at their office during the police visit, only her staff.
“Their image was put into bad light as most of the media reports about the police, according to them, have been negative,” she said.
Espina told Rappler that the police visit was “bordering on intimidation,” adding in a later statement that the officers “took a picture of the newspaper staff without asking permission.”
Upon verification, Espina said, they found that the Nocppo officers were following a directive from the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police.
“The media and the police had been partners,” she stressed, but “we report the good, the bad and the ugly.”
“Meaning, we don’t make up stories in favor of anybody,” Espina added. “Government forces must never harass, intimidate or attack journalists who are just doing their jobs.”
Panay News was still trying to reach Nocppo for comment as of press time./PN
