Crisis: National

Arroyo issues EO on classified information
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has issued an Executive Order (EO) restricting public and media access to official information. EO 608, issued on April 20, 2007, will create a National Security Clearance System that will “protect and ensure the integrity and sanctity” of classified information against “enemies of the state.”
The order directs “all govern-ment departments, agencies and offices to implement security measures that will protect and ensure the integrity and sanctity of classified or sensitive materials or information they have access to or (are) in their possession (of).”
Heads of government agencies with access to classified matters are directed to imple-ment and institutionalize the security clearance procedure approved by the office of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.
Unauthorized use or disclosure of information in the classified documents is considered a “grave offense” under the EO and shall be punishable in accordance with civil service rules and regulations.
Departments are also ordered to designate a security officer who will assume responsibility for holding classified in-formation.
Transparency and Accounta-bility Network (TAN), a non-governmental organization that seeks to reduce corruption through transparency in the government, expressed alarm over EO 608. TAN Executive Director Vincent Lazatin described the executive order as “a result of the government’s paranoia on sensitive issues.”
Lawyer Nepomuceno Malauan, co-convenor of the Access to Information Network, which has been working for the passage of a freedom of information act, also said that the EO “does not conform to globally recognized standards of reasonable exception to access to information.”
A month before issuing EO 608, Arroyo signed the Anti-Terror Law. Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur, on March 12, 2007 has asked Congress to repeal this law for its non-compliance with international standards.

Newspaper reporter attacked
Delfin Mallari Jr., a Southern Luzon correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, was shot and wounded on April 19 by two unidentified gunmen in Lucena City, Quezon province.
Mallari, 53, was driving his car with Johnny Glorioso of the ABS-CBN network on their way to dwKI, a local radio station, for their 8 a.m. program when two assailants on board a motorcycle fired at them.
Glorioso, who was not hurt in the shooting, rushed Mallari, who was hit on the left side, to the hospital. The bullet from Mallari’s body was removed at around 10 a.m. Gina Rodriguez, assistant Southern Luzon bureau chief of the Inquirer, said Mallari is now in stable condition.
Rodriguez also said that Mallari, prior to the incident, had already been receiving threats.
Mallari is a veteran correspondent who has covered the police, environment, and local elections. He also wrote articles on illegal logging, toxic waste problems, and the illegal drug trade.
Mallari is also the editor in chief of Ang Dyaryo Natin, a local paper in Lucena where he also writes a column called “Kape’t Brandy.” Glorioso is the publisher of Ang Dyaryo Natin.
Meanwhile, a broadcaster was sued for libel by the governor of Cebu City on April 16.  Leo Lastimosa, station manager of a local affiliate of ABS-CBN radio, was sued by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia for reporting on alleged scams committed during the preparations for the 12th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations there.
Meanwhile, in Albay province in Southern Luzon, dzRH reporter Jun Alegre was arrested last April and jailed over a 10-year-old libel case.

Prov’l radio reporter shot dead
A POLICE reporter for the government-run dzRB Radyo ng Bayan was found dead in Mapalad Village, Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija on the morning of April 18, 2007.
Carmelo “Mark” Palacios, 41, bore bruises and gunshot wounds on the chin and back. His jaw was broken. Senior Supt. Allen Bantolo, who heads the investigation, said the killers “smashed [Palacios’] face with a very hard object.”
Palacios, who headed the Citizens’ Crime Watch (an anti-crime group based in Nueva Ecija,) had done a series of reports on the alleged misuse of a congressman’s pork barrel. He had also helped solve several crimes by providing leads to the police.
Palacios was last seen on April 17 at around 5 p.m. with an unidentified man near police headquarters in Cabanatuan City. Residents of Sitio Uno, where Palacio’s body was found, claimed that at around 9:30 p.m. they had noticed a vehicle mysteriously going around in the vicinity. After a few minutes, it sped away. Investigators said Palacios was killed between 9 and 10 p.m.
Palacios is the second journalist to be killed this year in the Philippines. Hernani Pastolero Jr., a newspaper publisher, was gunned down in Mindanao on Feb. 19, 2007.
Thirty-three journalists have been killed in the line of duty in the Philippines when Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became president in 2001.

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