Reporter hits harassment by Army colonel

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Philippine Daily Inquirer / Nov. 3, 2008) - A radio reporter here has complained of harassment by an Army colonel who allegedly berated him for entering the 6th Infantry Division at the height of a fire that razed an ammunition dump Friday.

“He was yelling at me, his eyes as if on fire, and berated me when he found me inside the camp near the ammunition dump,” Loreto Rosario of Church-run Radio DXMS, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

He identified the official as Lt. Col. Aswald Buco, 6th ID camp commander.

Buco could not be reached for comment but Col. Julieto Ando, 6th ID spokesperson, apologized for and in behalf of Buco.

“I would like to apologize to Mr. Rosario,” Ando said, adding that the situation at the time of the fire was “high and there was a state of confusion.”

Ando explained that Buco was the camp commander and he would like to make sure nobody who was not allowed at the camp could come closer to the ammunition dump where the fire started at 4:15 a.m.

“There’s no problem if I was told to distance myself from the fire scene,” according to Rosario. “What dismayed me was his yelling at me as if I am his subordinate, as if I am a criminal, as if I did not present my press card.”

“You are an intruder, it’s good that my men did not shoot you,” Rosario quoted Buco as telling him. “If they have shot me, that was their problem, I did not violate any rule,” he said.

Rosario maintained that he came to the camp as a reporter with proper identification cards to report what was going on when there was a 30-minute powerful and continuous explosion.

“I coordinated with Maj. Abaja, deputy spokesperson, and he allowed me entry,” Rosario said.
“Besides, the main gate was open when I arrived so I proceeded to the fire scene,” Rosario, who has been covering the 6th ID beat for the past five years, said.

Rosario also accused Buco of taking his two mobile phones and press card and handed them over to his men. But Rosario grabbed them and left. He proceeded to the office of Ando.

Buco, with his heavily armed bodyguards in tow, followed Rosario at Ando’s office.

There he berated Rosario anew in front of Ando and accused him of being an “intruder.”
Ferdinand Cabrera, secretary general of National Union of Journalists of the Philippines-Cotabato chapter, condemned Buco’s actuation and called for an investigation.

“That was very unprofessional and uncalled for an Army officer,” Cabrera said.
It was the second case of media harassment inside the 6th ID.

Last week, about 10 policemen assigned with the police station of Mother Kabuntalan, Shariff Kabunsuan were berated and given a dressing down by an Army lieutenant of the 6th Infantry Battalion.

The Army lieutenant, known as Lt. Capuyan, has been relieved and is undergoing investigation, according to Ando. (Edwin O. Fernandez - Philippine Daily Inquirer)