Cebu press council to City Hall: Don’t limit access to information

THE Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) approved a resolution yesterday requesting Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing to rescind or modify the memorandum asking department heads and employees to refrain from granting media interviews.

“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 CCPC Resolution No. 2 Series of 2016.

The memorandum, which was signed by the mayor’s executive secretary and chief of staff Atty. Mae Elaine Bathan, was issued last Aug. 8.

It directs department heads and employees to coordinate with the Public Information Office (PIO) first before any information is released.

But CCPC said beat reporters are now unable to verify or supplement their information with data from the department heads or employees who are more knowledgeable in their fields.

The CCPC then cited President Rodrigo Duterte’s executive order (EO) on freedom of information, which encourages local government units to enforce it.

They said the memorandum runs counter to Duterte’s order.

Bathan’s memorandum was raised by Norman Mendoza and Chris Ligan, who are the president and vice president, respectively, of the Association of Reporters in Mandaue and LapuLapu for Integrity, Truth and Equality (Armalite) during the CCPC and Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists’ (CFBJ) meeting yesterday.

The CFBJ, which is composed of 11 media organizations including Armalite, considers Bathan’s memorandum as a “gag order.”

Elias Baquero, CFBJ president, who moved for the approval of the CCPC resolution, said the memorandum is far from its declared intent.

However, Quisumbing and Bathan had said that the memorandum is not a gag order since the mayor has an “open relationship” policy with the press.

It only aims to enable the PIO to assist the department heads in releasing “clear and unified” information to the public.

They also said it does not limit media’s access to information or the freedom of the press.

In a related development, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, who was the guest during the CCPC meeting, said the Provincial Government is in the process of transferring its data to their website so it can be accessed by the media and the public.

Davide also said the media can interview Capitol’s department heads, even of the releasing of documents is centralized with the PIO.