US envoy urged to probe American soldiers’ treatment of Zambo media

The National Press Club (NPC) on Tuesday urged United States Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. to investigate an incident where American soldiers reportedly prevented local journalists in Zamboanga City from covering an event in a military camp there. NPC President Jerry Yap made this request in a letter to Thomas sent to the US Embassy on Tuesday. “We respectfully request for an investigation into the matter to be conducted by the US Embassy with the view of coming up with a better and more understandable relationship between the journalists working in the Philippines and the US personnel," Yap said. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) had earlier deplored as “arrogant and totally illegal" the manner in which US soldiers treated the journalists. In his letter, Yap said the press club received reports that six US soldiers guarding the headquarters of the US military Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines in Camp Navarro ordered journalists covering the visit of retired general Edilberto Adan last Monday to stop taking footage. An American soldier allegedly threatened to take the camera of a member of the local media who continued shooting footage of Adan’s visit, reportedly to monitor the activities of foreign military and civilian personnel covered by the Visiting Forces Agreement. Yap asked Thomas to explain why the US soldiers acted in this manner during an event “too obvious to be of public interest to both Filipinos and Americans." “While we in the National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) give the benefit of the presumption that American officials are performing their official functions regularly, we nevertheless wish that perhaps a more candid approach could have been employed in dealing with journalists," he said in the letter. US Embassy acting spokesperson Wossie Mazengia, however, said the the American soldiers allowed local journalists to talk with Adan and another military official during the event. Mazengia said the US soldiers only wanted to verify if the people entering the military facility were indeed members of the media. - Andreo Calonzo/KBK, GMANews.TV