T-shirt costs GMA-7 cameraman Arroyo coverage in Iloilo

A GMA-7 television cameraman in Iloilo City was barred from covering President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after he was deemed a “security threat" for wearing a T-shirt with the message “Stop Killing Journalists".

Cameraman Cirilo Renduque and reporter Fabienne Paredes were prevented by a Presidential Security Group member from going near the President when she and her delegation arrived at the Iloilo airport.

Both were barred because of the shirt Renduque was wearing, a report by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippine (NUJP) said.

The shirt also had a list of the names of the journalists killed in the massacre.

Arroyo arrived around 2:40 p.m. in the province to inaugurate the newly-rehabilitated Western Visayas Sanitarium.

But the team never reached the tarmac even after Renduque repeatedly showed his ID accredited by the Philippine Information Agency and the Media Accreditation and Relations Office of the Office of the Press secretary.

Based on Renduque’s narration, the unidentified PSG member at first told them that wearing a “plain shirt" was not allowed in the event.

When the PSG member learned that Renduque was from GMA-7, he joked that he would have let them through if the cameraman instead had a “Kapuso" shirt on. Kapuso is the monicker used for fans and employees of GMA Network Inc.

The PSG personnel also suggested that Renduque get himself a new shirt at a shopping mall so that he could change the black shirt he was wearing.

The crew was later allowed take footage of Arroyo during her engagement but the same PSG member approached Paredes and asked why Renduque had not changed his shirt.

The Iloilo chapter of the NUJP condemned the incident in a statement, saying they found no logical reason to prevent the GMA-7 crew from doing their job.

“When has this become a security threat to the President? Is this offensive to the highest official of the land? Didn't the President herself declare a national day of mourning after the massacre and has not her various spokespersons repeatedly condemned the hideous crime?" the group asked in the statement.

The group also called on the PSG to ensure that the incident will not happen again.

At least 57 people, at least 30 of whom were journalists, were murdered in the massacre in Maguindanao on November 23 last year, allegedly orchestrated by the southern province’s powerful Ampatuan clan. (Jerrie Abella / GMANews.TV)


Link: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/181487/t-shirt-costs-gma-7-cameraman-arroyo-coverage-in-iloilo

TV News Crew Attacked In Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / December 11, 2009) – Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a television news crew in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao where 57 people, including at least 30 journalists were brutally killed.

The crew, all belonging to television giant GMA 7, was attacked at around 10 a.m. in Datu Hofer Ampatuan, but there were no reports of casualties.

GMA 7 said the news team, headed by John Paul Seniel, was filming a documentary on the about the wealth and power of the Ampatuan clan when shots rang out. It said armed men fired at least twice at Seniel’s group while about to take footage of the Datu Hoffer Ampatuan municipal hall.

Aside from Seniel, other members of the news team were cameramen Leoar Cajes and Randy Acedilla. It was unknown who attacked the journalists.

The massacre of the 57 people on November 23 triggered a widespread arrest by authorities after President Gloria Arroyo declared a state of martial law in Maguindanao and among those accused in the murders were the patriarch of the powerful clan, Andal Ampatuan Snr, the governor of Maguindanao, and his sons Andal Jnr, the mayor of Datu Unsay town, and Zaldy Ampatuan, the governor of the Muslim autonomous region where Maguindanao belongs.

The Ampatuans denied all accusations against the.m (With a report from Merlyn Manos)

Former Mindoro politician killed

Mindoro Occidental province. (Wikipedia)

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 9, 2009) – A man stabbed dead a former provincial deputy governor on Tuesday in an attack outside a radio station in San Jose town in the central Philippine province of Mindoro Occidental, reports said.

Reports said that lawyer Crispin Perez was attacked shortly after he stepped out around 9 a.m. from the radio station where he had a program, according to the television network GMA 7.

It said the 66-year old former politician died on his way to hospital.But another network, ABS-CBN reported that Perez was attacked in his house at around 10 a.m.

It quoted police investigators as saying that a man who pretended as someone in need of Perez's legal services stabbed him repeatedly in the body.

It was unknown whether the attack was connected to his job as a lawyer or an old feud.

(Mindanao Examiner)

Photos of kidnapped ICRC staff surface in the Southern Philippines

Photos obtained by television giants GMA-7 and ABS-CBN show the three kidnapped ICRC staff Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, left, and Sulu deputy governor, Lady Ann Sahidulla, second from left, Italian national Eugenio Vagni and Swiss Andreas Notter, right. (GMA-7 / ABS-CBN)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 28, 2009) – At least two photographs of three kidnapped Red Cross workers have surfaced on Wednesday in the southern Philippine island of Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf is holding them captive the past two weeks.

The photographs showed Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba posing together with Sulu deputy governor Nur Anna Sahidulla.

The kidnappers reportedly wanted to talk to Sahidulla, but details of the meeting were not disclosed. The hostages said they are being treated well and were allowed by the kidnappers to use their cell phones and laptops.

Two of the photographs were obtained by rival television networks GMA-7 and ABS-CBN.

Former Moro rebel leader Nur Misuari has offered to held in negotiating with the Abu Sayyaf for the safe release of the hostages.

It said Misuari, former chieftain of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), is willing to help in the negotiations to free the hostages.

The three were kidnapped January 15 after inspecting water and sanitation project at a prison facility in the town of Patikul. Police linked a dismissed jail guard, Raden Abu, to the kidnapping and said he handed over the hostages to the Abu Sayyaf headed by Albader Parad and Abu Pula.

But reports said Misuari was asking for government permission to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf after a mayor in Sulu, Isnaji Alvarez, of Indanan town, was charged last year with kidnapping when he helped negotiate the release of television reporter Ces Drilon and her two cameramen, including their guide.

Drilon was held by the Abu Sayyaf whom they sought to interview clandestinely in Sulu Island. They were freed weeks later after private negotiators reportedly paid P20 ransom.

It was unknown whether the Abu Sayyaf is willing to negotiate with the former rebel leader. But the Abu Sayyaf previously rejected Misuari, who was tapped in 2001 by Manila to negotiate for the release of 21 Asian and European holidaymakers kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan.

Filipino movie star, Robin Padilla, was also in Zamboanga City on Wednesday and had been reported also to be helping in the negotiation for the release of the hostages. Padilla previously negotiated with the Abu Sayyaf for the release of several students and teachers kidnapped in 2000 in Basilan Island. (Mindanao Examiner)