Media security task force seeks NBI, police help for Times reporter

NBI main office at Taft Avenue, Manila. (Photo By Tomenbang/Ursua/Villapando (Wikipedia Takes Manila participant) – Uploaded from Wikipedia Takes Manila, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA — The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) sought on Wednesday the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) in dealing with the death threats on Manila Times reporter Jose Marcell “Jomar” Canlas.

In separate letters addressed to NBI Cyber Crime Division Chief Manuel Antonio Eduarte and NCRPO Regional Director Oscar Albayalde, the PTFoMS said it seeks the expertise of the offices “to assess the imminent danger to Mr. Canlas and possibly reveal the identity of the person involved to neutralize the said threats.”

Canlas believes the death threats, done through text messages from an unidentified person, were related to his testimony in the impeachment proceedings at Congress against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno last Nov. 27.

PTFoMS Executive Director Joel M. Sy Egco also requested the NCRPO to provide a security detail for Canlas upon the discovery of an actual threat.

“An update of your investigation will be highly appreciated,” Egco said in a letter addressed to NCRPO Director Oscar Albayalde on Wednesday.

Canlas told PTFoMs that last Dec.

1, he received a text message from an unknown number saying: “P***angina mo jomar canlas, 3 kmi ang papatay syo, marami ka na kasalanan sa amin, magbilin ka na sa asawa mo at anak mo bago ka mamatay. Hdi to pananakot, ds time talagang patay ka jomar (Your mother is a b****, Jomar Canlas.

Three of us will kill you. You owe us a lot. Leave your final words to your wife and children before you die. This is not a threat. This time, you’re dead).”

In his sworn statement to the Manila Police District on December 4, Canlas said it was his first time to receive such threat in his 25-year occupation as a journalist. Canlas is a senior reporter at the Manila Times.

Canlas said he could not think of any other cause for the death threat aside from his testimony in the impeachment proceedings against Sereno.