This is the video
Photo reproduced here without permission of The Inquirer. Sorry, JV.
Inquirer’s photo caption:PEN LOBBY. Is Dana Batnag interviewing Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon? Or, are they plotting his escape? Does this video constitute enough evidence to prosecute Dana? Is this all? RPN NEWS
Faeldon-reporter tape does not show much; PNP witch-hunt hit
By Alcuin Papa, Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
The Philippine National Police came under fire Wednesday for allegedly engaging in a witch-hunt in an attempt to justify a tough stand against journalists reporting on coups and other crisis situations and deflect criticism that its move infringed on press freedom.
After weeks of insinuating that a female journalist helped Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon escape during the Peninsula Manila standoff last Nov. 29,Louis Vuitton Belts, the PNP finally leaked to the Philippine Daily Inquirer the name of the alleged culprit while officially withholding confirmation.
Two PNP officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed Tuesday that Dana Batnag, a reporter of the Tokyo-based news agency Jiji Press,wholesale sport shoes, had provided Faeldon with a press card and that he allegedly used it to slip out of the hotel.
The officers said that the act of the woman with a curly hair was captured in news footage taken by a crew of the sequestered television network RPN-9.
However, a clip provided the Inquirer Wednesday shows a woman,Wholesale Chanel, said to be Batnag, apparently interviewing Faeldon in the hotel and not handing him a press card. She appears to be holding a tape recorder instead. Also, her hair was not curly.
Marigold Haber-Dunca, RPN-9 News and Current Affairs director, said in a statement the footage showed “Faeldon in one corner of the Peninsula lobby, speaking with one lady reporter.”
This was apparently before police using an armored personnel carrier and tear gas ended the seven-hour takeover of the Peninsula by rebel soldiers.
Dunca said the footage was taken accidentally. She said the network was not taking sides and was making the TV clip available to anyone in the interest of transparency.
‘My conscience is clear’
She said the network submitted raw footage of the Peninsula siege to the PNP in compliance with a subpoena.
“I am honored to be one of the victims in the government’s witch-hunt against the media. But my conscience is clear for I have done nothing wrong,” Batnag said in a text message to the Inquirer Wednesday.
She said she had not been informed by the police that she was a suspect in Faeldon’s escape.
“I appeal to the authorities to file the proper charges before the courts to prove that this is a government of laws,” she said.
Scapegoat
Faeldon’s lawyer,Omega Watches, Trixie Cruz-Angeles, said the PNP was using a woman as a “scapegoat.”
“They are putting the blame on someone else to negate their liability that with 1,500 Marines and 500 cops at Manila Pen, one woman succeeds in helping Faeldon escape, as they claimed … They are trying to excuse themselves from the culpability,” Angeles told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
She recalled that police arrested some 30 journalists at the end of the standoff against former Navy Lt. Antonio Trillanes IV, now a senator, allegedly because one of them had helped Faeldon escape. But she said at that time authorities did not know that Faeldon was no longer in the hotel.
“The insinuation is the media are coconspirators,” Angeles said. “It is distracting us from the main issue, which is press freedom.”
Intimidation campaign
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, in a statement issued by its chair, Jose Torres Jr., accused the PNP of engaging in an “insidious campaign” to “intimidate media and control the flow of information.”
“We challenge the police to show the RPN footage that it claims shows Batnag helping Faeldon. We challenge them to file the case if they have a case to file. Otherwise, they should stop the witch-hunting and rumor-mongering done behind the skirt of anonymous and unofficial sources,” Torres said.
Earlier, veteran journalists Ellen Tordesillas of Malaya and Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN slammed the PNP for insinuating that they were involved in Faeldon’s escape.
Faeldon, 42, was among those arrested and charged with rebellion in connection with the 2003 Oakwood mutiny. He escaped in December 2005 and was recaptured a month later. Following the Peninsula incident, a P1-million reward was put up for his capture.
Revelations about the alleged involvement of media in Faeldon’s escape came amid claims by Malaca?ang and police officials of a new threat to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and warnings journalists covering emergencies face arrest.
ABS-CBN news people have gone to the Supreme Court to contest the threat of future arrests.
‘It’s about time’
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Wednesday if the PNP had evidence against journalists involved in the Peninsula incident it should furnish evidence so that his department could prosecute them.