MANILA, Philippines — The Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) are up in arms against the Presidential Communications Office’s (PCO) alleged attempt to curtail journalists’ performance of their duty after it requested to remove a reporter from the Palace beat for supposed “breach of protocols” during the presidential coverage.
In a statement, the MPC, through its officers, expressed its grave concern over a recent letter penned by Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Erelson Cabatbat that sought the removal of MPC member and Net 25 reporter Eden Santos from the Malacañang beat.
The letter, which was addressed to Santos’ immediate supervisor at Net 25, cited her supposed breach of protocol during the destruction of seized illegal drugs in Tarlac witnessed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on June 25.
Cabatbat, a former television reporter, claimed that Santos had violated a media advisory on approaching the President directly not once but twice “even if there was already an assigned place for reporters and cameramen in the venue.
The letter dated June 27 “respectfully” requested that a new reporter be assigned to cover the President and other agencies inside Malacañang and gave an assurance that other reporters who had breached the protocol “would also be admonished.”
But MPC questioned the basis for the requested replacement, citing the need to protect press freedom and resist efforts that could limit independent reporting.
“The ‘request’ was a clear overreach of the PCO’s authority. While the officers recognize the need to ensure the President’s safety and well-being, it should never be at the expense of the freedom of the press to tell stories that go beyond photo opportunities, press releases and rehearsed sound bites,” it said.
MPC, the official organization of media entities which deploy journalists to cover Malacañang, expressed hope that the matter “will be resolved in a manner that strikes a healthy balance between ensuring the President’s safety and upholding a free press.”
“Although the government and the media have clashing objectives and despite the fact that journalists have different ways of performing their roles, all our decisions should be guided with rationality,” it said. “Prudence should always be our watchword.”
This was not the first time that the PCO requested the removal of a member of the MPC from the Palace beat.
In March, People’s Journal reporter and MPC President Chona Yu was banned by the PCO from covering Malacañang due to her supposed “misrepresentation.”
The PCO claimed that People’s Journal, Yu’s former employer, informed the PCO on March 6 about a reshuffle that removed her from the Palace beat.
It claimed that Yu was still covering Malacañang even if People’s Journal had assigned a new reporter to replace her.
But the MPC officers then questioned the PCO on why Yu’s accreditation was “under review” given that her new employer, DZME, was a legitimate member of the press corps.
The PCO has said that all accreditation of reporters was under review and that it would issue a new set of guidelines for accreditation, a process that press corps members undergo annually.
Among the contentious issues in the PCO guidelines include the consideration of the years of operation of the media agency and the tenure of a journalist with the media organization.
Another issue is the definition of a “seasoned journalist,” which is another requirement for accreditation in the new guidelines, and the inclusion of “false reporting” as a condition for the revocation of the accreditation of an entity or member.
But the PCO deferred the implementation of its new accreditation guidelines amid concerns that these will infringe on the prerogative of media organizations to select the journalists covering the President and other Palace events and matters.
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