Journalists barred from covering election canvass

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Some journalists say they’re being barred from covering the canvassing of votes for the 2013 Philippine midterm elections in two areas.

In Northern Samar, a provincial election supervisor allegedly stopped members of the media from covering the ongoing canvassing at the provincial capitol of Catarman.

Catarman is the capital of Northern Samar, a province approximately 649 kilometers southeast of Manila.

According to Samar-based journalist Eladio Perfecto, policemen prevented reporters from entering the canvassing area allegedly upon the orders of lawyer Antonio Gulay Jr., a Commission on Elections (COMELEC) provincial election supervisor in Northern Samar.

Perfecto is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Catarman Weekly Tribune and a correspondent of interaksyon.com. He also serves as the chairperson of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines chapter in Northern Samar.

“Pumunta kami doon ng mga 8:00AM (local time), may pulis na nakabantay na ang sabi hindi daw pweding pumasok… Maghintay na lang daw ng order ng provincial election supervisor (We went there at around 8 in the morning when a police officer securing the canvassing area stopped us from entering…. They said we should await orders from the provincial election supervisor),” he said.

Perfecto said the reporters explained to the police officer that they are accredited by COMELEC to cover the results of the elections. But the police officer refused to let them enter saying that he was just following instructions from election officials. The officer said he did not know Gulay’s reasons for barring the media from the canvassing.

Members of the media were only allowed to cover the canvassing at around 11:45 AM, after they alerted the national office of the COMELEC. However, by that time, Perfecto said, the local COMELEC office had already finished counting the election returns from six municipalities of Northern Samar.

Gulay  had not  released any statements about the incident as of this writing.

A similar situation happened in the province of Aurora when a Commission on Elections  (Comelec) official told media people who were covering the provincial canvassing to leave.  Aurora is a province in Luzon approximately 243 kilometers from Manila.

According to a 14 May 2013 report of GMA News TV, Comelec official Corazon Palispis banned a GMA News team and other media groups from entering the election canvassing area on the night of May 13, 2013 and the following day.

According to reports from GMA News TV reporter Dante Perello, the provincial elections supervisor and the Officer In Charge of Comelec-Aurora permitted the crew to cover the canvassing, but Palispis still refused to let them enter the area.

Palispis allegedly told the media that they needed to secure Comelec accreditation and get the permission of all candidates before they can be allowed in the canvassing area. The journalists told the election officer that they already had accreditation from the national office of the Comelec,  but Palispis continued to drive them away.

The media groups reported what happened to Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. They were advised to make a report and file a complaint with the police.