PNP chief clarifies order on access to police blotter

CEBU - Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Verzosa yesterday clarified that he is not prohibiting media access to official reports, including police blotters in any police station.

Verzosa, through his spokesman Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, assured that the PNP will observe a policy of transparency in all aspects of police administration and operations.

“Thus, public information and media relations have become inherent functions in the organization,” Bartolome said in a press release that was sent to the office of Central Visayas police director Ronald Roderos.

It was reported in a national newspaper yesterday that Verzosa has issued a memorandum that the police blotter shall not be made accessible to the public or media, unless there is authorization from the chief of a police unit.

Several associations of reporters all over the country, including in Cebu City, quickly criticized the move of Verzosa describing it as curtailment of the rights of the press to access of public documents.

Later, Verzosa said journalists could now simply go to the desk officer instead of securing permission from the station commander or public information officer as he had directed.

But Bartolome said it is very unfortunate that the latest move to decentralize the public information function was misinterpreted by some units and further misconstrued by some members of the media.

Bartolome described it as an incident of miscommunication with media that happened in a police station in Manila.

In a press conference at Camp Sergio Osmeña yesterday afternoon, Roderos said Camp Crame approved the decentralization of the public information function with “pure good intention of allowing the media to get better and more efficient access to information on police concerns.”

Roderos explained that under the PIO decentralization, police units are now tasked to perform the public information function at their own level, a function that was traditionally the responsibility of public information officers at the higher police offices.

According to Roderos, among the other improvements implemented by Verzosa is that the decentralization also requires local unit heads to be able to make public announcements or to hold a press briefing within two hours of a major crime incident in their respective areas of responsibility. — Rene U. Borromeo/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)