BY Miriam G. Desacada
Tacloban City–Three reporters of Radyo Abante-San Juanico TV on Monday (July 17) filed a request for assistance (RAS) at the Ombudsman in lodging a complaint for abuse of authority, grave misconduct, and slight physical injuries against a police-couple (P/Staff Sgts. Rhea and Ver Baleos) and seven unnamed members of the Pastrana (Leyte) PNP.
The reporters—Noel Sionosa Jr., Ted Allen Tomas, and Angel “Lito” Bagunas—addressed their RAS or complaint to Jose Balmeo Jr., deputy Ombudsman for Military and Other Law Enforcement Office, through Ombudsman-Region 8 Regional Director Janice Gabrito-Agullo.
Attached to their RAS/complaint are copies of their respective affidavits, and the transcript and copy of the video (that captured the incident) as their evidences.
In their RAS, the reporters told the Ombudsman that on Friday (July 14) they were conducting interviews of CARP beneficiaries at Barangay Jones in Pastrana, Leyte when Police Staff Sergeant Rhea Baleos (based on Sionosa’s affidavit) “suddenly tried to grab my cellphone away from me as I was recording the incident.”
Sionosa narrated that Baleos “assaulted me causing me to almost fall into the rice paddy.” In the video, attached to the RAS, Baleos is seen pushing and shoving Sianosa who could not do anything but to deflect the policewoman and move away from her. As a result though, she tore off the right hand sleeve of the reporter’s shirt.
The journalists further told the Ombudsman that: “it was at this point that we heard four gunshots (from a distance) and upon checking we saw the responding members of the Pastrana PNP already in firing position.”
“The team leader of the responding elements of the Pastrana, Leyte PNP was P/Staff Sergeant Ver Baleos,” husband of Rhea who earlier assaulted the reporters.
The reporters alleged that Baleos tried to stop them from interviewing the agrarian reform beneficiaries, one of who was Mrs. Anecita Nogal whose rice land was mortgaged years before by a certain Empillo to Baleos without informing the latter that the land was owned by Nogal.
“The incident has caused a great deal of mental anguish on our part. We also fear for our safety and that of our family,” said the TV reporters in filing the RAS or complaint to the Ombudsman.
Copies of the RAS were furnished to the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) in Manila, and the regional officers of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the Regional Internal Affairs Service of the Police Regional Office-8, and the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM)-Region 8.
PTFoMS Executive Director Paul Gutierrez sent his chief of staff Jyro Go, and executive assistant Venet Andal to Leyte on Thursday (July 20) to investigate the Pastrana incident and come out with findings to guide the body of its decision on
Go and Andal met with the TV crew and the policemen involved to get a clear picture of what happened in Pastrana and guide them in their decision.
While the PTFoMS verification process was underway, the Leyte Police Provincial Office (LPPO) acting director, P/Lt. Col. Ricky Reli, ordered Rhea Baleos (of the Sta. Fe PNP) and husband Ver (Pastrana PNP) relieved from their posts and transferred to LPPO pending the results of its own investigation on the matter.
After the purported PTFoMS probe, its officials reported their findings to Gutierrez: “the bursts of gunfire heard during the commotion … did not come from the local police;” and that “the local members of the press were not targeted by the police contrary to initial reports … by some quarters.”
They did not comment however on the physical aggression of Baleos on Sianosa except by saying that the policewoman had expressed her desire to settle the issue with the concerned TV reporters.
PTFoMS also said that Sianosa himself expressed his desire to drop the matter, but was allegedly convinced by his colleagues not to. It even implied that his co-workers “apparently want to exploit the situation to embarrass the PNP and sow hatred and fear of the authorities at the local level.”
Gutierrez said: “The country’s media climate cannot improve if there are some among us who, instead of promoting understanding and harmony would rather propagate fake news, sow division, and disunity between the members of the press and the authorities for their own ulterior motives.
The gist of the PTFoMS findings and decision is to encourage parties to settle their differences amicably, implying that the Pastrana incident was merely a sort of misunderstanding or a petty conflict that must not be blown out of proportion. “Let me stress that the PTFoMS is not an apologist of the PNP,” Gutierrez however said.
Fred Padernos, manager of Radyo Abante-SJTV, said the PTFoMS finding is questionable and disappointing. “PTFoMS has failed us,” he declared, adding that the agency came up with its own conclusion ahead of the official police probe results on the incident.
Padernos wondered how the PTFoMS concluded that the police were not the ones who fired the guns at the time. “Did you conduct ballistic tests on the guns of the policemen who responded to the scene of commotion?” he asked.
He also questioned the haste of the PTFoMS in posting its findings on its Facebook account, even before the journalists could file their complaint at the PRO-8 and at the Ombudsman-8. He further denied PTFoMS claim that Sianosa wanted settlement on the matter but was only prevailed upon by his co-workers to continue pursuing the case.
Radyo Abante-SJTV thanked the PTFoMS for sending its officials from Malacanang to Leyte to look into the matter, said Padernos, but he emphasized that the three involved reporters have years of work experience as broadcast journalists and would never weave false news, as claimed by PTFoMS, which will only destroy their credibility and professional life.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) issued an statement declaring its support to its colleagues in Radyo Abante-SJTV who are “seeking accountability” only from the hostile acts of the Baleos couple and the Pastrana PNP. “Filing a case is not exploiting a situation,” and sow division and disunity between the media and the police, as what were implicitly described by some sectors, said NUJP.
The Eastern Visayas Media Without Borders (EVMWB), an association of journalists in Region 8, earlier condemned this Pastrana harassment and declared: “Governments, organizations, and communities must ensure that journalists are safeguarded and that those responsible for harassment are held accountable.”
EVMWB further said that freedom of the press and journalists must be accorded respect and recognition of their work in keeping the public informed, as part of the democratic foundation in nation building. “It is essential that journalists are granted the space, support, and respect they need to fulfill their professional responsibilities.”
It further supports the SJTV journalists’ filing of a complaint at the Ombudsman against the police officers, who instead of upholding press freedom, want to silence the journalists and stop them from doing their mandated mission to society. —Miriam G. Desacada