BY RAYMOND AFRICA

MEMBERS of the media are up in arms over a recent directive by PNP chief Jesus Verzosa denying them to freely access police blotters.

The National Press Club said barring media men covering the police beat from getting unedited information from blotters "smacks of media repression" which it said had never been imposed in any administration, including during the martial law days.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said a police blotter is a public record, and requiring a court order or the approval of a police commander before being allowed access to the blotter is "a clear violation of the constitutional right to access to information."

The PNP said it is not prohibiting media access to official reports, including police blotters in police stations.

Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, PNP spokesman, Verzosa’s order which was meant to "decentralize the public information function was misinterpreted in some lower units and further misconstrued by some members of media."

But policemen at the station level are barring media men access to the blotters citing a provision in Verzosa’s directive.

A dzMM reporter complained that desk officers at the Manila Police District barred him from getting information from the blotter book, as they showed him a photocopy of Verzosa’s order.

"Decentralization of the functions of the public information office" was issued by Verzosa on October 20. Sub-paragraph "e" of the memorandum states that "information contained in the police blotter, in order to protect the integrity of the document and the identity of any victim and suspect, shall not be made accessible to the public or media, without the proper authorization from the Head of Office or unless the disclosure is in compliance with a lawful order of the court or any pertinent authority."

Radyo ng Bayan reporter Alvin Baltazar, president of the PNP Press Corps, said delaying media access to police blotters pending the approval of proper authorities will have an adverse effect on field reporters, especially those on graveyard shift.

"Paano kung hindi kaagad ma-aprubahan ang request ng isang reporter to look into the blotter? Kung may urgency ang storya, hindi ka kaagad maka-access kasi kailangan mo pa ang approval from the police official concerned," Baltazar said.

DZMM Radyo Patrol reporter Noel Alamar said media men are responsible enough to know what can or cannot be reported, thus there is no need to bar them from checking the police blotter.

Bartolome said the PNP has to inform the men on the ground that the decentralization of the functions of the PIO does not bar them from giving out information to the media.

"Hindi naman pinagbabawal, may proseso lang tayong susundin," he said.

Bartolome said the PNP headquarters approved the decentralization of the public information function "with pure good intention of allowing media to get better and more efficient access to information on police concerns."

Under the PIO decentralization, lower units were tasked to perform the public information function at their own level. a function that was traditionally the responsibility of public information officers at the higher headquarters.

The PIO decentralization, Bartolome said, now defines the responsibility of unit commanders to assist media and facilitate access to official reports, and other public documents.

"The same policy also defines the levels of approving authority for release of information to the public and the media," he said.

Among other improvements, the decentralization also requires local unit commanders to be able to make public announcements or hold a press briefing within two hours of a major crime incident in their area of responsibility, he said.

Bartolome said not all information in the blotter are facts. He cited as example a case involving two warring parties.

"Unahan yan and definitely yung inilalagay nila sa blotter ay para sa kanilang advantage... Hindi natin pwedeng sabihin na kung ano yung nakalagay sa blotter eh yun na yung absolute facts," he said.

Verzosa, days after assuming the top PNP post in late September, said he envisioned create leaders out of his men by giving them specific functions instead of relying on the national headquarters.

Part of Verzosa’s idea was to decentralize the functions of the public information officer since most of the time, the PNP spokesman answers all media queries even if the story is still at the police station level.