CEBU, Philippines – “Let the media do their job,” the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) said as tension continued to rise at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound in Davao City on Monday, August 26.
Since Sunday, August 25, reports of media workers being harassed circulated social media. A video from One News showed its mobile journalist Marymon Reyes being hit with a placard by a KOJC member and told to leave the area near the KOJC compound.
“Sinasabi nila na bayaran daw ang media (They are saying that the media are paid hacks),” Reyes said in the video.
Another video from Che Palicte of the Philippine News Agency showed KOJC supporters pointing at reporters and calling them “biased media.”
The NUJP reminded both police and KOJC members that the media was not a “party” in the issue and that they were there only to cover and report the search for KOJC founder Apollo Quiboloy.
“That means that media should not be made to be government witnesses in exchange for being allowed into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound,” said the NUJP statement.
According to the NUJP, police offered journalists to cover the search operation on the condition that they would sign a waiver and agree to be state witnesses.
“[Journalists] should not be subjected to verbal harassment and the threat of physical harm by KOJC followers who disagree with the ongoing operation or with media’s reportage of it and of the pending cases against Quiboloy and his co-accused,” the NUJP said.
The NUJP added that media workers were expected to gather facts and report, and not to act as “cheerleaders” for any of the personalities involved.
“Allegations of abuse from either side is no excuse to subject media workers to the same,” the national media union concluded in its statement.
– Rappler.com
