News correspondent forced out of board meeting

CMFR/Philippines – THE VICE mayor of a Misamis Oriental town barred a reporter from taking footage of a public meeting last 28 January 2013. Misamis Oriental is a province approximately 800 kilometers south of Manila.

Gold Star Daily correspondent Angelito Rulona was taking a video of the 28 January 2013 Excise Tax Board meeting when vice mayor Emmanuel Jamis asked Rulona to identify himself.

Rulona did, but Jamis allegedly threw Rulona’s bag outside the mayor’s office, grabbed him by the collar, and asked the reporter if he wanted a fight.

Rulona said he left to prevent the situation from getting worse.

“I just made sure he did not get my camera,” Rulona said. Rulona has reported the incident to the police and plans to file charges.

Asked why the vice mayor acted the way he allegedly did, Rulona quoted Jamis as saying in a radio interview that “If someone enters my house, I’ll make him leave if I don’t know him.”

CMFR tried to contact Jamis but failed, because no one answered the mobile phone number provided by the provincial administrator.

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