THE National Press Club condemned the decision of Department of Justice (DOJ) Sec. Leila de Lima to evict from the department’s premises in Manila its two recognized press corps based on an alleged report by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) that members of the press have become a “security threat” to its officials.
“We find the DOJ’s action suspicious; this a ‘cloaked censorship’ aimed at restraining the media from gathering information especially from officials and personalities who are connected with the office of the DOJ secretary (OSEC),” declared NPC president Benny Antiporda.
He noted that the two press corps at the DOJ main building, JUCRA (Justice and Court Reporters Association) and JUROR (Justice Reporters Organization) has been staying on the same floor where the office of De Lima is located so they can immediately gather news on important issues that need the immediate reaction of the justice secretary.
The JUCRA has been holding office at the DOJ since 1977 while the JUROR has also been given accommodation by the department since the 1980s, during the time of Pres. Corazon Aquino.
“Now the DOJ officials want the media out of the building allegedly because of a NICA report that they have become a ‘security threat.’ We (members of the press) are not born yesterday,” Antiporda said.
Antiporda said it is not wild to speculate that de Lima’s order to ban members of the press from the building housing her office and to remove them from as far away as they can be from other top DOJ officials is to cover-up for the ‘sin of commission’ by some justice officials with their habit of releasing reports of DOJ investigation of sensitive issues.
“Instead of focusing on how to suppress press freedom it would be better for Sec. De Lima to give more protection to the media by solving the many incidents of media killing that should have been the primary task of the DOJ’s Task Force 211,” he added.
Citing a purported report from the NICA claiming the presence of members of the press inside the DOJ main building poses a threat to DOJ security, its officials headed by three undersecretaries—Jose Vicente Salazar, Francisco Baraan III and Leah Armamento—gathered on Thursday members of the JUCRA and JUROR to inform them of their eviction ordered by Sec. Leila de Lima.
When pressed for a copy of the report, the officials however declined to provide any.
PINOY SNIPER 