Trifling

I was already unwinding this evening and stayed as far away from any keyboard. But PNP Director General Avelino Razon said something again on the arrests of journalists last Nov. 29 at the Manila Pen; and now I have a post.

 

It was kind and generous of PNP Director General Razon to explain graphically why journalists were arrested last November 29 at the Manila Pen in the aftermath of the military offensive. He said “For all you know, Ces Drilon could look like Principe, that Principe of Magdalo, so she had to be brought in too, but mind you she wasn’t handcuffed.”

 

So out of curiosity, I had to find out whether there was a Magdalo soldier who looked like a woman, or at least, who had the facial bone structure of Ces Drilon. If Ces Drilon looks like a Magdalo soldier, Natalie Portman looks like Avelino Razon.

 

To be fair, here is the full context of what Razon said:

 

He said that last Nov. 29 at the Manila Pen there was so much confusion; and even after Trillanes and the Magdalo soldiers had been handcuffed, he said that they knew that the place was not yet secure and that some of the Magdalo soldiers could still be among the media men and women so they just hauled everybody to the truck to be safe.

 

He was followed-up with: But what about those people who were well known to be journalists?

 

(Here, I’m paraphrasing now I didn’t take down notes but this is what Razon said):

 

Razon: Well, you cannot expect the policemen on the ground to be familiar even with well-known tv personalities.

 

Tina: Yes, but what people who are recognizable like Ces Drilon, etc.

 

Razon: Okay, with Ces, for all we know, she could look like Principe, that Principe of Magdalo so we brought her in but mind you she was not handcuffed.

 

So, I researched it, who knows, Razon might have a defense after all for roughing up the journalists and tying them up.

 

 

I googled “Principe of Magdalo” and google turned up: Elizabeth Principe, peace panel consultant of the NDF, recently arrested, and the AFP issued a statement (google cached article) that she allegedly had the mission of “linking up” with Magdalo. (So…when did they start looking for her in connection with Magdalo?) She doesn’t look bad but the two women do not look alike at all. For academic discussion I am borrowing these most recent photos, they’re from www.abs-cbnnews.com, I will remove them later:

    ces1.jpg        

Ces Oreña-Drilon

 

             Elizabeth Principe

                                                          

(with apologies, i will remove the photos if you don’t like these ones i picked)

Both photos temporarily borrowed from
www.abs-cbnnews.com for academic discussion

Do you notice any similarity? It’s like saying…lemme see… actress Alicia Alonzo looks like news anchor Ces Drilon. (And in the second place, is Ms. Principe connected with Magdalo? How? Doesn’t the PNP have to prove the link first in the criminal case? Then announce later, this was the root of the arrests of journalists: “We were looking for Ms. Principe! It’s a good thing we kidnapped, este, arrested her in Cubao.”)

 

 

 

Do you know what this is all about, what Razon and the respondents are all about now? (yes, respondents, they’ve been sued.)

From threats now they’ve turned to trifling.

 


an entire chapter

francisluis-mora.jpg

 

Francis Luis Mora. Medieval Street Battle 1888. ACA Galleries, est. 1932. Right-clicked from www.artnet.com searched thru www.artcyclopedia.com

 

After this blog broke the story of the supposed curly-haired female reporter last Tuesday who according to the PNP had been documented in a CCTV camera allegedly giving a press card to “fugitive” Nicanor Faeldon – a blind item that had been passed around earlier and stored in the memory card of many reporters’ cellphones, not used and not storified because the source was anonymous – (only this blog used it because it’s a tabloid-blog ha-ha; no, even if the source could not be confirmed, the fact that the CIDG elements were leaking the blind item and sowing intrigue among members of the press to intimidate them was, in my opinion, a story by itself; and we also used it to illustrate the new rule on habeas data) the story took a life of its own. The Inquirer picked it up the next day, and today, a blown-up photo (video grab) of foreign correspondent Dana Batnag holding a pocket-size tape recorder apparently interviewing Nicanor Faeldon last Nov. 29 in a crowded corridor of the hotel, as Faeldon leaned towards her to hear her above the din of what seemed to be a throng moving forward.

The truth is, the DOJ, the PNP, the CIDG, and all 100,000 of the armed forces, do not know how Faeldon escaped.

That’s what happens when an unprofessional DOJ secretary (Raul Gonzales) leaks the story of a supposed CCTV tape showing a reporter supposedly helping Faeldon by giving him a press i.d., without actually having seen the tape himself. He just shoots his mouth off without looking at the evidence or reading or knowing the pertinent laws. We suffer the politicization of the bureaucracy because Gloria intended her executives to be her sycophants and minions to protect her seat and keep her in power without these fawning political appointees knowing what their job was. Come to think of it, it was he who broke this story with his blind item, blanket accusations, rumor-mongering.

(Yesterday, he somehow backpedaled in his interviews by tossing the issue to the PNP. Too late, reputations have been besmirched and rights to be secure and to privacy have been and are being violated.)

It’s not just sloth and cluelessness, there were continuous and persistent moves and an intent to threaten the members of the press.

The truth is, the DOJ, the PNP, the CIDG, the ISAFP, the AFP, do not know which door or which window or which ceiling or stairs or sunroof Faeldon took when he escaped. Ask them. For all we know, he could have walked away thru the front door much earlier.

The truth is, the DOJ, the PNP, the CIDG, the ISAFP, the AFP, do not know which alley or which street he traversed, to have so easily evaded the cordon of policemen that ringed the hotel. Ask them.

The fact is, the DOJ, the PNP, the CIDG, the ISAFP, the AFP, do not know which car he borrowed, who drove it, who secured him; they do not know for sure in what city, municipality, province, what hill, mountain, island, the escaped soldiers are. Ask them.

This country has had insurgencies for three hundred years and coup plotters and coup attempts and unauthorized troop movements now and then for more than twenty years; for decades; and there will always be conflict-reporting, locally, for a long time in this country; in some large media organizations, it is an entire beat, and in some schools it is an entire chapter of a course or courses; inciting to rebellion, inciting to sedition, inciting to war, the Espionage Act, unlawful publications and acts against state interest, as limits to freedom of expression, form an entire section in media law. But the fact is, the DOJ, the PNP, the CIDG, the ISAFP, the AFP, do not want any journalists around when any conflict-reporting has to be done. They don’t want any witnesses. To their incompetence. Or barbarity when those hors de combat (out of combat or disabled) but still moving come out in body bags.