Negros media under AFP crosshair?

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental — A top Negros Occidental-based military officer claimed that a closed down local paper in 2004 was being revived as a propaganda tool of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

Colonel Jerry Jalandoni, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, linked the Visayas Daily Courier to the CPP-NPA during a meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council on Tuesday at the provincial capitol here last March 28. He said the information was based on intelligence reports and pointed out that the Communist Party had been stepping up its political propaganda organizing efforts.

Edgar Cadagat, publisher of the Courier, denied that the paper was going to be revived, since this would entail millions of pesos in investments that he did not have. He, however, stressed that the deeper implication of this report was that military authorities were intervening in areas where, he claimed, they had no competency.

“The right and the freedom to publish, to inform the people of what’s happening in society, including government corruption, abuses and human rights violations fall under Article 3, Section 4 of the Constitution,” Cadagat said.

Cadagat said he did not know where the military supposedly obtained this report. He said there was never a plan to revive the Courier. He also said he could not also understand why a community newspaper, like the Courier, was being linked to the CPP-NPA as the investors in the paper before it folded up included several government officials. He declined to name the officials.

Rafael Coscolluela, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s adviser for Western Visayas, criticized the military for targeting local journalists. He said the warning about the Courier sounded “a little paranoid.”

A week before, the military placed in its “order of battle” Julius Mariveles, news director of dyEZ Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod, for being an alleged member of the CPP-NPA. The list, first reported by Manila dailies, identifies Mariveles as secretary general of the party-list group Bayan Muna (Nation First) in Negros and among purported local leaders of the revolutionary movement. However, Mariveles has been working as a journalist since 2002, and used to be secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Negros, not BayanMuna.

Mariveles is also secretary general of the Correspondents, Broadcaster and Reporters Association and an officer of the Congress of Active Media Practitioners and the Negros Media Council for Press Freedom.

“We see no way the military could have overlooked this simple fact since, in the practice of his profession, Mr. Mariveles regularly interviewed ranking military and police officers on Negros,” said “Article 3”, a Western Visayas press association in a statement released March 22. Jalandoni however, assured that Mariveles is safe under his care, adding that he would investigate why Mariveles’s name was listed.

If he is not satisfied with the reason, the military official said he would immediately recommend the name’s removal. Jalandoni also said he would raise this concern with Lt. Gen. Samuel Bagasing, AFP Central Command chief. (Source: Inquirer News Service)

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