Metro Manila Police district chief takes reporter’s phone, deletes video

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — Metro Manila’s Southern Police District (SPD) Chief took the cellphone of GMA 7 TV reporter Jun Veneracion he was using to video  an altercation between police officers and a devotee of the Black Nazarene during the Traslacion on 9 January 2020. The police officer allegedly deleted the relevant footage before returning the phone.

Veneracion was taking a video of a devotee who was being dragged away by a group of policemen when an officer, later identified as SPD Chief Brigadier General Nolasco Bathan, snatched his phone. A police officer stopped the reporter when he tried to retrieve his phone from the official.

In an Inquirer news story, Veneracion said that when he asked Bathan for his phone, the police official was “mad” and even threatened to confiscate his hand-held radio. Veneracion backed off to let the police official calm down.

According to the report, Bathan apologized to Veneracion and said he did not recognize the reporter. Verneracion was able to retrieve his phone and found that the footage had been deleted.

Bathan denied deleting the video.

Veneracion was able to retrieve the footage through the ‘recently deleted photo album’ feature of his phone.

The video is currently on Facebook.

According to a report by CNN Philippines, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it will investigate the incident.

PNP spokesman Bernard Banac said in  the report that the PNP will conduct a “speedy investigation” but is still awaiting an explanation from the Metro Manila Police. Banac also said that “they respect the rights of journalists to freely cover and report the news.”

On January 10, Bathan publicly apologized to the GMA News reporter in a press conference at the Kamuning Police Station 10 in Quezon City. The police official said that what happened between him and the reporter is a “misunderstanding.” According to Bathan, he confiscated the phone thinking that Veneracion was “someone who poses threat to the procession.”

In the same press conference, some police officers complained that there were some unruly and “violent” devotees during the procession who had to be subdued.

Traslacion is an annual procession of the image of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo Church in Manila which millions of devotees celebrate.

This year, over three million devotees participated in the parade. More than 2,000 police officers were deployed to create a human wall to secure the carriage carrying the image. Some devotees were critical of the strict security measures imposed by the PNP that prevented them from getting close to the image.