BY EVANGELINE DE VERA

A TEAM of journalists from ABS-CBN yesterday asked the Supreme Court to issue a permanent protective order enjoining government authorities from charging and prosecuting them in connection with their coverage of the November 29 standoff at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City.

In a 33-page petition for the issuance of the writ of amparo and prohibition, 11 employees of the TV and radio network, led by broadcaster Ces Oreña-Drilon, said they were left with no other recourse but invoke the writ to prevent authorities from making threats of warrantless arrests and harassment while journalists are in the legal performance of their work.

Named respondents were Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, PNP chief Avelino Razon, Metro Manila police chief Director Geary Barias, and Chief Supt. Asher Dolina, chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region.

The team said the respondents violated their basic rights to liberty and security when police arrested them along with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and his group after the standoff.

The arrest also violated the people’s right to free speech, free press, and right to information, they said.

They said Razon "trivialized a violation of the Constitution as a mere `inconvenience,’" and Puno added insult to injury by saying media practitioners would again be arrested if they interfere in police and military operations.

Gonzalez, on January 11, issued an advisory warning media practitioners they face criminal charges if they disobey orders from authorities during "emergencies."

VEILED THREATS

"We believe it’s our duty to unmask the veiled threats and continued harassment of the press by the government for what it is. Moves to limit press freedom and censorship are no longer a temptation for government. It is a reality that we have to expose and stop," the group said in a statement read by Drilon.

"These developments have far-reaching consequences because every journalist reporting on a conflict situation now has to worry that he or she may be arrested and treated like a common criminal just for doing a job," Drilon added.

As to a statement by the police about a lady reporter allegedly aiding fugitive Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon during the standoff, Drilon said: "The manner by which the government is insinuating without naming names means that every journalist is a suspect. It is an attack on our credibility. They have not filed a single case against those who chose to stay (inside the hotel)," she said.

PRE-EMPTING CHARGES

Gonzalez said the filing of the suit was a means to preempt authorities from filing charges against those suspected of sympathizing with destabilizers.

"I’m happy that it has now reached the SC as the high court has the power to promulgate rules," he said.

Gonzalez clarified that he was not asking journalists to stop covering sensitive events but to stop becoming obstructions in ongoing operations.

Razon welcomed the filing of the case as he said it would determine if the police or the media erred in the performance of their jobs.

Razon also said the police would disclose in due time the name of the reporter who was caught on the hotel’s closed circuit television camera helping Faeldon leave the hotel before police arrived.

Some reporters covering the Camp Crame beat have been floating that an alias "Miss T" who has a Visayan accent was the one who aided Faeldon escape that day.

Ellen Tordesillas, Malaya columnist and chief of reporters and who comes from Antique, challenged Razon to show the footage.

Tordesillas was one of about 50 media men arrested after the standoff.

Instead, Razon virtually cleared Tordesillas and Drilon. "Alam ni Ellen at Ces sa kaibuturan ng kanilang puso na hindi sila iyon... Wala naman kaming tinutukoy na babae o lalaki ang reporter na tinukoy na tumulong kay Faeldon."

GRAY AREAS

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, a former media man, said the Palace expects a "win-win" solution from the filing of the suit as the tribunal’s decision "would help clear up a number of gray areas in the relationship between the media and the police."

He also said the Palace also expects the police to prove their actions during the Manila Peninsula standoff "were well within accepted rules of engagement."

Cerge Remonde, chief of the presidential management staff and former chairman of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, said: "It should be welcomed as an opportunity to ventilate the issues devoid of passion but strictly on the merits of the facts and the law."

Chief presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol said he was confident the petition would go nowhere because the media men who were detained have all been released.

Apostol added he was not sure why a petition for writ of amparo had to be filed when there is no missing person involved. – With Raymond Africa and Jocelyn Montemayor