By Jigger J. Jerusalem, Correspondent .
THE Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) has urged the management of television network ABS-CBN based here to report to authorities the incident where three funeral wreaths were sent to the media company’s regional office on Saturday evening.
In an interview Sunday, Maj. Evan Viñas, Cocpo spokesperson, said they are willing to conduct an investigation as soon as ABS-CBN reports the incident to the police.
“This is a form of threat and we can investigate it,” Viñas said, adding that a representative from ABS-CBN should lodge a report at the nearest police station so action could be taken.
The wreaths were sent to the television network’s office in Barangay Bulua, this city, following the noise-barrage participated by the media company’s employees, groups and individuals supportive of ABS-CBN, whose franchise renewal was denied by the House of Representatives’ congressional franchise committee on July 10.
Written on the ribbons of the wreaths were the words “Ibalik ang ABS-CBN! Isulong ang digmaang bayan!” (Bring back ABS-CBN! Support the people’s war!).
Also written on the other ribbons were various organizations, namely, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), National Union of People’s Lawyers-Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines, Bayan, Anakbayan, Kadamay, and the League of Filipino Students which were alleged as supporters of the Communist armed group New People’s Army.
“Security guards at the station said the delivery service personnel told them that the people who paid for the wreaths did not identify themselves. No person or group has come forward to claim responsibility for the wreaths,” said JB Deveza, NUJP media safety officer for Western Mindanao, in a statement.
“The wreath delivery appeared to be part of a coordinated red-tagging operation, with a fake Facebook account named Kim Chuy, which has regularly red-tagged people and organizations, posting a spoof of the poster announcing the noise barrage,” Deveza said.
The fake poster also linked the protest to the rebels and red-tagged the same groups named in the wreaths, he added.
Meanwhile, the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) has condemned the attempt to silence the ABS-CBN workers and their supporters to defend press freedom.
“We see this as a warning to ABS-CBN to dissociate itself from the progressive groups who have been campaigning for the renewal of its franchise as it exposed the hand of Malacañang behind its eventual closure,” said Czarina Musni, UPLM secretary general in a statement Sunday.
This futile act, she said, makes it even clear that these threats and harrasments are part of the workings of the government in associating progressive forces with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.
“Despite this, we are certain that the 11,000 workers of ABS-CBN will continue to question their unjust dismissal and closure until the truth shall be revealed. And we will be right there with them all the way until the press shall finally be free,” Musni said.
