BY DENNIS GADIL

THE Senate yesterday reprimanded Cabinet, military and PNP officials who failed to attend its probe on the Manila Peninsula standoff, particularly the arrest of about 50 media practitioners who covered the incident.

The media men, hands tied with plastic, were brought to the headquarters of the Metro Manila police in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig after the standoff.

"The Senate has no choice but to reprimand officials who were invited but failed to attend. Their excuses are flimsy and unacceptable," Sen. Francis Escudero, chair of the Senate justice committee, said during yesterday’s hearing.

The no-shows were Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

Cabinet secretary Ricardo Saludo said it was not Malacañang that barred the officials of the executive department from attending the Senate hearing.

Saludo said the officials themselves declined the invitation.

"Busy sila sa paglaban sa natitirang mga banta sa seguridad," he said.

He said security is still tight in several areas of the country, especially around Malacañang, where jeepney passengers are required to alight from the jeepney and be inspected at the pedestrian gate before boarding their jeepney again and proceeding to J. P. Laurel st.

He said the Armed Forces and the PNP are not yet through defusing threats to national security.

Escudero said the Senate joint panel was dismayed with the new excuse.

"We cannot take it sitting down and we should not take it sitting down. Either sanctions would have to be imposed or reminders would have to be issued against these people," an irked Escudero said.

‘CRITICAL OPERATIONS’

Teodoro, Gonzalez and Puno in a joint letter to Escudero said they are engaged in "critical operations" identifying and capturing those involved in the Manila Peninsula standoff.

"They are, likewise, involved in the investigation and buildup of cases to be filed in court, and any disclosure of information relative to the incident may prejudice ongoing operations, as well as cases filed and to be filed in court," they said.

"It is in the national interest that such officials are allowed to do their job with undiminished time and attention," the letter added.

Escudero said the excuse was flimsy. He said the three secretaries are not directly involved in pursuing those involved in the Peninsula siege but their people.

Also reprimanded were AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, PNP chief Avelino Razon, Metro Manila police chief Director Geary Barias, and Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus.

TAP ON THE WRIST

The reprimand order was endorsed by majority leader Francis Pangilinan and Senators Jamby Madrigal, Manuel Roxas II and Alan Peter Cayetano.

A reprimand is nothing but a tap on the wrist and does not have the effect of a contempt order.

Escudero said they decided to limit the penalty to reprimand in view of the Christmas season.

"Basta malinaw, mali ang ginawa nila at dapat hindi na ulitin," he said.

Roxas said the non-appearance of Teodoro, Gonzalez and Puno "affects" their confirmation before the Commission on Appointments.

Roxas said the absence of Cabinet, military and police officials "deprived the senators and the public of information regarding the kind of coverage protocol that they have in mind for media."

SMALL INFRACTIONS

Roxas and Sen. Benigno Aquino III filed the resolution calling for a probe on the Manila Peninsula incident.

Pangilinan said their absence in the hearing "casts doubts on their sincerity and their willingness to account for what happened at the Manila Pen."

"The danger of allowing small infractions is that it may embolden the commission of bigger ones," he said.

The only government representatives who showed up were Cavite provincial prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco and Purificacion Quisumbing, head of the Commission on Human Rights.

The CHR is investigating the alleged maltreatment suffered by media practitioners at the hands of policemen during the November 29 standoff.

HOLOCAUST SCENES

During the hearing, Malaya columnist Ellen Tordesillas said scenes of movies about the Holocaust came to mind while she and other journalists were being lined up and brought into a waiting police bus after the six-hour standoff.

"At that point, it made me remember Holocaust movies, where Jews are being lined up in concentration camps," Tordesillas said, referring to movies that showed how n Jews were being lined up by Nazis for execution during World War II.

CHILLING EFFECT

Maria Ressa, head of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, said the arrest of media people with suspects on the failed uprising creates a "chilling effect."

"Every journalist reporting on a conflict situation now has to worry if he could be arrested or charged. Journalists can be charged, so can the news organization they work for. This is no longer a threat but a reality and creates a chilling effect for working journalists," Ressa said, referring to Puno’s warning that media men would be treated similarly if found "obstructing justice."

Puno made the statement during a dialogue with media organizations a week after the November 29 standoff led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who walked out of the Makati court hearing a coup d’état case filed against him for leading the Oakwood muting four years ago.

Trillanes was joined in the walkout by other mutiny leaders and civil society leaders who later marched to the Manila Peninsula and holed out at the hotel for about six hours.

PREVIEW

A number of media men stayed in the hotel during the standoff.

Ressa said there are fears the arrest and other forms of media intimidation are a preview of "a more dangerous time ahead."

Amado Macasaet, Malaya publisher and Philippine Press Institute president, said that while they are classical adversaries, the media and government should draw comfort that what they are doing is both for the good of the public.

Charmaigne Deogracias, a reporter for NHK TV, recalled that while journalists were being lined up for transport to Camp Bagong Diwa, she was asking herself if they were included in Malacañang’s deadline for the police to end the standoff.

The police set a 3 p.m. deadline for the surrender of Trillanes’ group. The surrender came about three hours later.

RIGHT TO KNOW

The media men said they decided to stay in the hotel despite the police’s request because it was their duty to tell the public what was going on.

Ressa said it was clear to all the media men inside the hotel that "the public has the right to know."

She said they were also aware that there were police and military intelligence agents who had infiltrated the media’s ranks.

Razon has said they had to round up the media men because they received reports that members of Trillanes’ Magdalo group pretended to be media members.

Ressa said ABS-CBN did not report the infiltration because it might compromise the military and police agents.

"During the crisis we did not report that because we didn’t want to compromise their work, but their presence increased the danger of those who were inside the room," she said.

NO OBSTRUCTION

Ressa insisted that the journalists inside the hotel did not obstruct justice and that their reports even helped the police.

"Mere presence and reporting the news is not obstruction of justice," she said.

"Recordings made by the police of our live coverage are being used as evidence in court… The police benefited from us doing our job. We cannot be both obstructing and helping justice simultaneously," she added.

Tony Lopez, chairman of the Manila Overseas Press Club, said the arrests were made when the "hotel was already clean of rebels."

"I don’t know why the arrests were made when no martial law has been declared. We have seen 15 coup attempts – small, medium, large, real and imaginary – but no journalists were arrested," he said.

Lopez said he believed higher authority gave the arrest order and that "it is now unwritten policy that journalists covering rebellion or rebellion attempts will be arrested."

Velasco, a former Malaya reporter, tried to justify the police action on the journalists, saying it was primarily meant to preserve the crime scene, as well as protect lives of civilians, including the journalists.

"Nobody should get in the way of police work," he said.

The Senate inquiry is being conducted by the committee on justice and human rights headed by Escudero. – With Regina Bengco