Pinoy Weekly condemned the alleged confiscation by the police of their newspapers in Pandi, Bulacan, this Sunday morning.
On the Facebook page of the newspaper Pinoy Weekly, pictures of uniformed police officers were seen carrying bundles of newspapers.
According to its editor-in-chief Kenneth Roland Guda, Bulacan police suddenly confiscated copies of their newspapers at an office of the urban poor group Kadamay.
He also said that the police did not show a warrant when the incident happened.
“Sabi ‘pag hindi binigay ‘yong copies, may mangyayari… ibig sabihin, may threat sa kanila ‘pag hindi sinurrender,’ said Guda.
(If they will not give the copies, something will happen. It means there’s a threat if they would not surrender the newspapers.)
“Ang sinasabi nila, itong publication na ito tinuturuan ang mga tao lumaban sa gobyerno,” he added.
(They said the publication teaches the people to fight the government.)
Jun Alejandrino, Pandi police chief, vehemently denied the alleged raid and forcible confiscation of newspapers from the Kadamay group’s so-called house.
“Nagpapatrol ang kapulisan natin, nakita ang dalawang suspect walang face mask, noong sinita, nakita na may hawak na pamphlet,” said Alejandrino.
(Our police were on patrol when they saw the two suspects without a face mask. When they were arrested, they were seen holding a pamphlet.)
“Ngayon nakipagmatigasan sa mga pulis kaya inaresto,” he added.
(They resisted, so the police arrested them.)
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But the Pandi police admitted that for them, what was written in the newspaper was not pleasant to the government.
“Propaganda po ‘yon, concern na ang internal security natin,” the chief added.
(It’s propaganda, we are concerned with internal security.)
Guda, on the other hand, insisted that the statement of the Pandi police was untrue.
He said it is clear that the police’s action is a means of attacking and killing the free press, as was the case with the closure of ABS-CBN.
The management of Pinoy Weekly is determined to file a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights while the newspaper encourages Kadamay to file a robbery case against the police.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) also condemned the incident and said the newspaper was a legitimate news organization in the alternative media.
The incident was also an example of dangers posed by the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, said NUJP.