MindanaoToday.com | KBP renews call to amend law on drugs compelling reporters to testify in courts
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Top officials of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) on Thursday, June 6, called on its local chapters to send petitions to members of Congress to amend a provision in the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 that requires media to appear in court as witnesses.
KBP National President Noel Galvez, in a Seminar on KBP Broadcast Code here, said the proposed measure to amend Section 21 of Republic Act No. 9165 in the House of Representatives has already stricken out the controversial provision, but the legislative process does not end there.
Galvez said that section that compels reporters to sign affidavits and act as witnesses has already been removed in the house bill (consolidated) which is now in the Committee on Dangerous Drugs which is chaired by Surigao del Norte Second District Representative Robert Ace Barbers, in response to pressures from media groups.
For years, members of the media were cited for contempt or were subjects arrest warrant for failure to appear in court.
Lawyer Edward Chico, legal counsel of KBP, said members of the media join anti-drug operations “for news but not as part of the news,” but Section 21 of R. A. No. 9165 really requires their presence and that of the barangay. This allows media access to information they need in their news coverage, but may expose them to risks.
“We cannot do about it for now, dura lex sed lex (the law is hard, but it is the law),” said Chico, not until it is removed and R.A. No. 9165 is amended. He advised reporters not to sign anything, much more of one was not present during actual anti-drug operations.
Magnum Radyo Station Manager Jun Albino, in his Thursday morning radio program, disclosed in livestreamed conversation with KBP Cagayan de Oro Chapter Chairman Ronald Rufin that one of their reporters has been the subject of a warrant of arrest for refusing to appear in court. He maintains that the role of reporters is to cover an event and the task ends there.
Nitz Arancon, an anchorman and newscaster at Radio Mindanao Network’s DXCC, said he had learned his lessons the hard way for casually affixing his signature on prepared affidavits, most often his friends as they have been his news sources.
During the pandemic, while observing health protocols and safe distancing, he spent the whole day from the prosecutor’s office to the court only to find out late in the afternoon the hearing has been reset. Worse, he would be testifying against a friend.
That was just one of the many incidents that he had in the past, including police operations he did not personally witnessed but only saw the suspect handcuffed. He had turned down requests for his signature.
Rufin said the local chapter would send a petition to join the rest of media groups in pushing for the scrapping of Section 21 from R.A. No. 9165. It will be signed by local officers and radio station managers. (MT)
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