THE DAVAO CITY CHAPTER of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemns in the highest possible terms the brazen, indiscriminate and intemperate use of violence against protesting farmers, miners and the media by anti-riot police officers under the Davao City Police Office on Thursday, which has resulted to the injury of a Davao-based photojournalist and several other protesters.
The NUJP issues this statement to take exception over this police brutality against a member of the working press and to demand that the incident would not be made a precedent for more attacks against our profession.
Barry Ohaylan, correspondent for Pinoy Weekly and Kilab Multimedia Group, sustained a gash in his forehead after a cop directly assaulted him even though it was very evident that he was carrying a camera and was wearing his press ID.
Ohaylan has been in this profession for a decade now and his photos have already appeared in various online sites, and in local, national and international dailies, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the New York Times.
The police brutality constitutes an act of impunity against Ohaylan and peaceful marchers, and shows the lack of empathy and prudence on the part of the local police force to exercise the mandatory maximum tolerance.
What is more alarming is that after being confronted by other journalists covering the protests, the cop who hit Ohaylan never apologized and hid behind his equally cold-hearted and coward superiors. And we thought, “life is here” in Davao City.
We stand that yesterday’s attack was not an accidental hit. A video footage of the incident clearly shows that the police ganged-up and cornered the defenseless Ohaylan who (was shouting), on top of his lungs, identified himself as a member of the media.
One reporter was even taunted by the still unidentified police ground commander to a fist fight. Should such a person be allowed to lead a unit, is beyond us and the responsibility of the police higher-ups.
The police’s attack on protesters breaches what Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has ordered long before that no protest will be dispersed violently in the city.
Photojournalists, video journalists and reporters are in the frontline to provide the public with fresh information, however perilous the situations in the field maybe.
Journalists are aware of the risks of our profession but in numerous cases, including Ohaylan’s experience, attacks against the working press are clearly deliberate.
The PNP should not say that Ohaylan is just a collateral damage and that the media should back off and take photos and video footage miles away from an event.
We do not live in a ruthless dictatorship where state security forces can tell the media what to do. We do not live in the Wild West where state security forces can shoot now and ask questions later.
We condemn the labeling and disinformation that media personnel covering the dispersal is taking sides as insinuated by the statement of Davao City Police Director Vicente Danao himself in a TV interview this morning.
Danao said that the media should not get in the way and if they do “parang kasama na rin nila.”
We take this to mean that Danao and the police force would only recognize and respect the media if it limits itself to cover the side of the police, the government and the establishment. We take this to mean that Danao and the police consider any journalist who covers direct confrontation by the authorities as “getting in the way” and as fair game to violence and similar treatment against ordinary citizens.
Such is an affront to the basic tenets on freedom of expression and press freedom that are held dear by every journalist in any democratic society.
We demand that the DCPO chief Vicente Danao Jr., being in the top of the chain of command in the city, to face responsibility over this incident.
No journalist should cower under threat of reprisal for his or her work. Press freedom must be respected at all times.
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