Seminar for cops on how to serve warrants set

Following the indignation of media groups on the alleged impropriety on the serving of arrest warrant by five Manila policemen on a newspaper reporter, police operatives and investigators will undergo a seminar on proper handling of cases.

The scheduled series of seminar is one of the guidelines formulated by the Manila Police District (MPD) to avoid similar future controversies that drew an uproar from local and foreign journalists.

MPD acting director Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa directed Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, head of the MPD’s Intelligence and Investigation Division, to formulate guidelines relative to the filing of cases which are considered sensational.

Last week, five police officers tried to serve an arrest warrant on Business Mirror reporter Mia Gonzales at the Malacañang press office.

The procedure drew outrage from other reporters covering Malacañang including foreign journalists. The warrant stemmed from a libel suit filed by First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in 2004.

Sapitula said cases involving media practitioners and government officials shall be reviewed by the chief of the police district’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit and the district’s legal counsel to see if proper procedures were followed.

The series of seminars, meanwhile, shall have officials from the Department of Justice as resource persons. Journalists will also be invited to gauge their personal sentiments and formulate ways in the proper serving of warrants to avoid any controversy or missteps, according to Sapitula.

The MPD will also review its police operational procedures in serving arrest and search warrants, he added.

"We believe that the end result of the seminars and revised operational procedures will foster harmonious understanding between the police and the media," Sapitula said.

The five arresting officers claimed they were merely informing Gonzales of the warrant on her and that she was not being arrested. The MPD said the serving of warrant was properly coordinated with the National Press Club.

Ironically, the MPD has recently formed a task force to protect members of the media from harassment and threats as an offshoot of the series of killings of left-leaning activists and journalists.

The Arroyo administration has come under criticism following a series of killings of left-leaning activists and journalists that were blamed on security forces.

Critics have accused the government of either condoning the attacks or not doing enough to stop them. Mrs. Arroyo denied that her administration had been cracking down on dissident and had pledged to bring the killers to justice.