Luigi asked to lift “gag order” on media interviews

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Citizens-Press Council passed a resolution yesterday requesting Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing to lift the “gag order” on media interviews.

The CCPC said that Elias Baquero, president of the Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists (CFBJ), “earnestly and strongly” requests Quisumbing to “rescind or modify Memorandum Order - 080816 dated August 8, 2016.”

Under the organization’s resolution, CCPC said that Quisumbing’s direct memorandum order to his department heads and employees in Mandaue City Hall last August 8 is “far from its declared intent.”

“...and even negates the intent: since its issuance, most department heads and employees have shunned interviews with reporters, even refusing to answer simple questions about matters of public interest,” reads the resolution.

Quisumbing clarified in a previous report that the memorandum order is not a “gag on media” but imposes an “open relationship” with the press.

While the mayor’s chief of staff Lawyer Elaine Bathan recently said that the purpose of the memorandum is to give the media unified information.

“The aim of the memo is to further this objective so that whatever information that the media wishes to know will be clear and unified,” Bathan said in a recent report.

With the MO, CCPC stated that CFBJ reportedly received feedbacks from reporters in the city and camera crew in a consultation last November 16 and cited instances such as “clamming up of department heads and employees who would rather refuse to answer questions, obviously not wishing to risk reprimand or sanction.”

Another feedback received by CFBJ according to CCPC is the “consequent inability of beat reporters to verify or supplement their information with data from department heads or employees who usually are more knowledgeable in their specific areas of expertise or familiarity than higher officials.”

Norman Mendoza, president of the Association of Reporters in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu in Truth and Excellence, said there is a “gag order” in Mandaue City considering the standing MO.

He said Baquero suggested to him and Armalite vice president Chris Ligan to put it into a resolution and request Quisumbing to take back the order.

“Duna man pending effectivity sa FOI (Freedom of Information) pag November 25. Ako giingnan nga kami sa Armalite, wala man mi naalarma ana kay duna man FOI. Wala mi naalarma anang gag order ni Quisumbing. Huwat na lang mi mo-take effect ang FOI basin mausab ang dagan. So after November 25, mura’g wa man statement silang Quisumbing bahin sa FOI, mao na ang resolution siguro gihatag na, ni-request na sila. Ni-confirm ra man ko nga o, naa’y gag order sa Mandaue,” Mendoza said.

He said the Public Information’s Office in Mandaue City Hall has been active in catering to the needs of the reporters by leading them to the right sources.

“Okay ra man kay pananglitan gusto mi (mo-interview) og news source, ang PIO, di man ingon nga mag-screen sila. Bali mag-prepare sila sa sakto nga info nga makuha sa media. Wala man mi gi-prevent sa Mandaue, nag-prepare lang sila sa mga kinahanglan,” Mendoza added. (FREEMAN)