NUJP hits military requirement for journalists

MANILA, Philippines - The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines scored Thursday night the requirement of the military's Western Mindanao Command for journalists to fill out biodata forms for accreditation. In a statement on its website, the group said WestMinCom's biodata requirement is an intrusion on privacy and press freedom, and that it should be rejected. "The NUJP is incensed at the sudden requirement imposed by Major Eugene Batara, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, for journalists to fill up a biodata form before they can be accredited for coverage. The biodata is not only an invasion of privacy, it is a subtle repression of press freedom as it would give the Westmincom information office blanket authority to decide who it will or will not consider a journalist, an authority it does not have the competence or legal right to possess," it said. It noted the information journalists are supposed to submit includes facts that have absolutely nothing to do with their profession. Such information includes social security and tax identification numbers, distinguishing physical marks, eye and hair color, blood type. Also, WestMinCom requires journalists to give the names and addresses of next of kin, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and religious affiliation. The form also requires journalists to sign a waiver of "all my legal rights/claims against the AFP for any accident, loss or any untoward incident that may occur while covering the AFP activities," supposedly executed "on my own free will and volition." "All these give rise to suspicions of more sinister motives," the NUJP said. "Whether working for a news outfit or freelance, a journalist's identity is public knowledge. There is, thus, no reason for Batara or any other military spokesman or officer to keep a dossier of who the reporters are in the areas where they are assigned. Unless Batara and his ilk doubt their own competence to perform their tasks or, again, the imposition is for more sinister motives," it added. The NUJP demanded that Batara withdraw this requirement, and that any other military spokesman or command thinking of a similar imposition to do likewise. "We likewise urge our colleagues in the Westmincom area and anywhere else similar attempts to impose the biodata requirement to reject it outright and assert our right to the free practice of our profession," it said. - GMANews.TV