Appeal to take necessary actions against a Zamboanga del Norte police officer (UPDATED)

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) wrote the Department of Interior and Local Government to to take necessary actions against a police director involved in unjustly arresting radio broadcaster in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte. (See letter below.)

DILG Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas III sent a letter dated 9 May 2013 in response, assuring that he had “asked Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima to cause an exhaustive, fair and objective investigation of the incident by an independent fact-finding team…. The PNP DG shall report back to me soonest, with recommendations as to any culpable police officers and the charges to be filed against them, criminally and administratively.”

In a separate letter, 18 members of the global free expression network International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) urged President Benigno Aquino III to “file the necessary charges against Maclang.” (Read more about the appeal here.)

The President through executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. replied to IFEX’s appeal last 17 May 2013 saying that “steps have already been taken by the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of Justice to address the concerns…,and that the Office of the President will work closely with the said agencies that are looking into the incident to ensure that justice is served.”

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