Solon calls for suspension of phone-grabbing police general to ensure impartial probe
MANILA, Philippines — A House lawmaker on Sunday called for Brig. Gen. Nolasco Bathan to be relieved of his position or be placed under preventive suspension to ensure an impartial probe into his phone-grabbing and deleting of a video file recorded by a GMA 7 reporter.
Rep. Ron Salo (Kabayan party-list), who chairs the House Committee on Public Information, rallied support for Interior Secretary Eduardo Año's decision to conduct an investigation into the general's treatment of a media member.
This came after Bathan snatched the phone of a reporter who was recording an instance of police brutality at the Traslacion on Thursday. The reporter, GMA 7's Jun Veneracion, wrote a Facebook post about the incident afterward that went viral.
Salo tagged the police general's action as "a reflection of his fear that the actions of the police officers at the Traslacion would be broadcast nationwide."
At a later press conference, Bathan apologized to the reporter but said that there was no wrongdoing in his actions, which “all happened unintentionally,” as he thought the reporter was holding a grenade. He also maintained that he didn't know who the reporter was.
“I would like to apologize for what happened at Ayala Bridge during the procession of the Black Nazarene 2020 wherein I confiscated the cellphone of a media personality who was later on identified as Mr. Jun Veneracion of GMA 7 thinking he was someone who possessed threat during the procession,” Bathan said.
“We are just securing peace and order in the area."
The Kabayan solon said this excuse was "simply unacceptable."
Bathan can clearly be heard in the video ordering an officer to delete the video taken by the reporter whom he explicitly named, saying, “Burahin mo, burahin mo kuha ni Jun Veneracion. P******** nagku-kwan eh.”
The National Union of the Journalists of the Philippines also called for the national police to sanction Bathan on Friday.
“Such behavior not only makes a mockery of the policeman’s oath to ‘Serve and Protect,’ if unpunished, it can only add to the worsening impunity that has marked the general breakdown of the rule of law in this country,” NUJP said.
“Anything less can bolster the growing perception that our law enforcers are also the primary lawbreakers.”
Salo called Bathan's actions an "offense to press freedom and freedom of information" and "conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman."
"Police officers, including Gen. Bathan, need not fear members of the media or any person recording an event as that act is legal and part of an empowered citizenry if the police officers know that they themselves are performing their functions properly and legally," Salo added.
"Transparency in the affairs, behaviors and actions of public officers, including police officers, is the key in ensuring greater accountability."
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