Palace chides radio station

Malacañang chided officials of a Mindanao radio station yesterday for violating an "informal" agreement between President Arroyo and media executives not to give Abu Sayyaf bandits a venue for their pronouncements.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao told reporters he called up officials of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) to ask them to explain why they aired an interview with bandit spokesman Abu Sabaya.

In the interview, Sabaya announced that two of the Dos Palmas hostages had been killed following a rescue attempt by the military in Tuburan, Basilan.

"I talked to them (RMN officials) and their explanation was that they thought it was an emergency situation and they even heard sounds of gunfire and this leader kept on demanding that he be put on air," he said.

"And we talked with the radio station (officials) and again appealed to their sense of patriotism if they could hold off any obvious appeals by the bandit group to use the media for their own purposes," he added.

Tiglao said Abu Sabaya took advantage of the RMN interview to sow panic and terror among the families and relatives of their 20 hostages.

"What we are saddened was the interview in radio by Sabaya who is threatening again," he said. "We appeal to him to think about their hostages who have families also. He should pity them. If he wants money, we call upon the Abu Sayyaf not to carry out their threats. If they want fighting ... please do not include innocent people."

Tiglao said media organizations can ask for military and police help if their radio or television stations are threatened by the Abu Sayyaf to coerce them into becoming its mouthpieces.

"I think the media is very well-principled enough to defy these threats," he said. "We find the media very helpful, very cooperative actually despite some breaches in the informal agreement. But we hope that as the situation still drags even and situation does not improve, we are appealing more to media to please understand the situation."

Tiglao said the Abu Sayyaf is clearly trying to prevent any military offensive against them through a disinformation campaign in the media.

At a meeting in Malacañang last Tuesday, President Arroyo asked media executives not to give airtime or print space for the Abu Sayyaf’s propaganda and help her impose a news blackout on any military operation to safely rescue the hostages. –Marichu Villanueva