Verzosa eases up on blotter ban

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said yesterday that interaction between the police and the media remains regular with “no prohibition on access to police blotter.”

He explained that his Oct. 20 directive was not meant to prohibit public or media access to police blotter but to enhance communication dissemination.

“I am about to issue on Monday or Tuesday another memorandum to clarify the issue,” Verzosa told The STAR.

Verzosa was at the Caloocan City police station firing range yesterday morning as a guest of a shootfest sponsored by the Northern Police District.

“I have a three-page decentralization of information memorandum and there was only a single paragraph in it which was the cause of the miscommunication. But in its entirety, it would even make it easier to get information from the police,” he said.

He said that he directed the designation of a “spokesperson for every police level” so that anybody who wanted to ask for information on certain cases or issues concerning police matters would easily know whom to approach.

Malacañang has ordered Verzosa to explain the blotter ban issue while the Commission on Human Rights wants the PNP chief to revoke the controversial memorandum.

Malacañang called yesterday on the PNP to engage the media in more dialogues to thresh out issues of conflict such as the recent order to restrict access to the police blotter.

Presidential Management Staff director general Cerge Remonde, in a radio interview, said he has asked Verzosa to clarify the issue, particularly with the media.

Remonde, who used to head the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas, said he was also concerned about the order, considering that police blotters are public documents and access to these documents is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Remonde said that Verzosa has agreed to his suggestion and would be holding these dialogues soon.

New order

Verzosa issued a directive yesterday ordering all police desk sergeants, public information officers on duty or the chief of police to be responsible for the availability of news references which are not restricted, including the police blotter.

He also ordered them to assist the media in their news gathering without divulging sensitive information that might affect ongoing operations or violate the rights of victims of sexual abuses and related crimes.

“All CPOs (chief of police from precinct, station, district, city, provincial and regional levels were directed to make themselves readily available, give their direct contact numbers to their media counterparts,” said Deputy Director General Leopoldo Bataoil, head of the PNP Police Community Relations, quoting Verzosa’s order.

On the other hand, PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome is drafting clarificatory notes on the Oct. 20 order.

This document will be forwarded to the Commission on Human Rights, the Senate, the Department of Justice, Malacanang and other interested parties, Bataoil said.

Meanwhile, the 3,000-strong Manila’s Finest Brotherhood Association, Inc. (MFBAI) took exception to Verzosa’s memorandum.

The MFBAI believes the designation of a spokesperson to brief media on the status of a case is ill-advised, since “only the case investigator has the knowledge of the facts and circumstances.”

SPO2 Virgo Villareal, spokesperson and vice president of the MFBAI, said police officers who do not have personal knowledge of a particular case should be prohibited from briefing the media, since they sometimes muddle the ongoing investigation. – With Marvin Sy, Jaime Laude, Nestor Etolle