REVILLA TO PROBE MEDIA ARREST

Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. today said that his committee will be probing the arrest of media practitioners by the Philippine National Police (PNP) during the Makati standoff last Thursday.

The senator assured that his committee will dig deeper into the matter in order to come up with guidelines to avoid repetition of the incident where some members of media were arrested after the surrender of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and his cohorts.

"We will urgently act on this because it is imperative that we ascertain the whole story. Right now, we are just basing our opinions from little pieces of information that we are in process of gathering," said Revilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.

Revilla pointed out that the police may have their reasons at that time but it should be clarified. "We will not be contented with generalizations. We need details," he said.

"Afterwards, the police said sorry, so I guess they realized that in a way, there are short-comings on their part. But don't get me wrong. I don't want to second-guess and judge them at this moment. The way I look at it, both parties have their point," he clarified.

The lawmaker stressed that the police and media should be working together instead of acting against its other.

Revilla said he will particularly determine who ordered the authorities to arrest and handcuff the members of the media who were inside the Manila Peninsula .

Among those who will likely be invited by Revilla's committee are Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr., National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Geary Barias and the arrested media practitioners.

"We must know what's behind the media arrest. We have to look very deep into this matter, "Revilla added.