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Pimentel: Charges vs media for hostage tragedy show traces of martial law


Vestiges of Martial Law are showing in the charges recommended by an inter-agency body against media outfits for the Aug. 23 Manila hostage tragedy, a lawyer for one of the networks involved said Tuesday. Former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., lawyer for Radyo Mo Nationwide (RMN), said media is being turned into a sacrificial lamb to cover up for incompetent officials. "We are in the week of September 21 [the day when Martial Law was declared 38 years ago]. Media networks were among the first victims then. It would be timely to recall how all media outfits – TV stations, radio and print media – were shut down, and only those that cooperated were allowed to reopen.... This is not acceptable for a democracy," Pimentel said in an interview on RMN’s dzXL station. Martial Law was declared by then President Ferdinand Marcos on Sept. 21, 1972, which highlighted the Marcos dictatorship that was toppled in February 1986. Pimentel had been one of Marcos' vocal critics. On Monday, President Benigno Aquino III – whose late mother Corazon was catapulted to power by the 1986 popular uprising – made public the findings of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee that probed the August 23 hostage crisis in Manila. The IIRC recommended charges against RMN reporter and anchor Michael Rogas and Erwin Tulfo; and against television networks ABS-CBN, TV-5, and GMA Network. Eight Hong Kong tourists were killed along with their hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, in the 11-hour standoff. No basis? Pimentel insisted there was no basis to hold media responsible for the bloody outcome of the Aug. 23 incident, adding reporters were only "doing their job" of covering the crisis. "You saw what happened. Nine hours passed without authorities doing anything to deal with the hostage-taker. After nine hours RMN called Mendoza and Mendoza answered the call," said Pimentel in Filipino. In a separate interview on dwIZ radio, Pimentel branded as “invented" the charges recommended against the media outfits. He said there was no provision in the Revised Penal Code that the media outfits had violated while covering the standoff. “Ako ay nababahala ... Sa tingin ko, para bagang naghahanap sila ng mapapasahan ng kanilang nakikitang [pagkukulang]," he said. (I am worried. This is my opinion, it is as if government is looking for a sacrificial lamb that it can use to cover up for the incompetence of some officials.) Besides, he said the 1987 Constitution had upheld the right of media to gather information. Pimentel also claimed his clients were duped into testifying before the IIRC when it claimed they were testifying as resource persons and not as suspects. “Kung sinabi niya suspect ang mga ito... I would have asked her among other things to inhibit (If IIRC chairwoman and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had said my clients were being considered suspects, I would have asked her among other things to inhibit)," he said. Aquino, liable? Pimentel also said President Aquino should have been included in the investigation after he admitted responsibility for the tragedy. “The president admitted he was responsible for everything. It turned out there were others involved. Perhaps he should have been included in the investigation too," he said. He also noted acting Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo had been placed in a delicate situation since he was not in control of the Philippine National Police at the time. At the time, it was Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno who was charged with being Aquino’s “eyes and ears" in the Philippine National Police (PNP). “Napakaselan ng kanyang katayuan riyan, kung ang pulis di under sa kanya. Anong klaseng order yan hatiin (ang DILG)? Napakahirap ng kanyang tayo (Robredo was placed in a quandary. What kind of order is it that strips the Department of Interior and Local Government secretary of supervision over the PNP? Robredo was placed on the spot)," Pimentel said. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV

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