Pichay urges probe on newsmen’s brawl
Congressman Prospero “Butch” Pichay urged Senior Supt. Isagani Neris, Pangasinan provincial director, to investigate the reported mauling of local publisher Jaime Aquino by a fellow mediaman, Allan Sison, in the local Comelec area in Dagupan City, as a consequence of a news item Aquino had written in his newspaper recently.
The mauling incident was shown on ABS CBN news footage, along with Pangasinan politicians filing their certificates of candidacy last Thursday.
Pichay, a former journalist himself and publisher of Remate and Ang Bagong Pinoy and owner of a radio station, assured National Press Club president Roy Mabasa who earlier asked Regional Police Director Leopoldo Bataoil to conduct a swift investigation of the incident which he described as “an affront to press freedom.”
Aquino and Sison crossed each other’s path at the local Comelec office at the People’s Astrodome building while covering the filing of certificates of candidates by local politicians last Wednesday.
Sison allegedly confronted Aquino for publishing in his paper, the Northern Times, a shooting incident involving Sison resulting in the death of a victim, who was mistaken for a burglar at his residence.
Sr. Supt. Isagani Neris, the new provincial police director of Pangasinan, assured Pichay and Mabasa that no stone will be left unturned to solve Aquino the case, adding “nobody has the right to put the law into his hands.”
Last week, Congressman Pichay called for the formation of a Magna Carta for Filipino newsmen to protect them from harm and follow up cases involving unwarranted killings of newsmen or any violence committed against them.
Pichay also urged “all political parties in the country to protect journalists,” adding that “no democracy can thrive without the press.”
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