‘We have no information on joint military exercises’

From the Visayan Daily Star (Sep 15): ‘We have no information on joint military exercises’

Law enforcement agencies yesterday said they had no knowledge about alleged joint Philippine-US military exercises in the airspace of Negros Island after a person reported a low-flying aircraft that led to false radio reports that a plane had crashed in the Occidental side Thursday.

The Army, Police and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines national spokesperson all denied knowledge of such joint exercises, and stressed that no crash had occurred.

CAAP national spokesperson Eric Apolonio, Col. Alberto Desoyo, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, and Senior Supt, Rodolfo Castil, Negros Occidental police director, all said they had not received any information about joint military operations.

Bacolod-Silay Airport CAAP public information officer Ofelia Leonardo told MBC Aksyon Radyo that the CAAP national office had transmitted to them information on ongoing military exercises in some portions of Negros Occidental and Oriental, that started from Sept. 5 to Sept. 26.

The planes involved in the exercise were flying at 5,000 feet from the surface, which appeared to be low, Leonardo said. That could be why, they were saying that there was a plane crash, she told Aksyon Radyo.

We assure the public that there was no accident involving any aircraft in Negros Occidental, Leonardo said.

The military exercises are held between 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., she added.

A media advisory from CAAP-Bacolod Silay Airport, which was relayed by the Philippine Information Agency to the media, stressed that no plane crash had occurred.

False news of a plane crash in Negros Occidental kept some policemen awake until past midnight Thursday trying to verify the veracity of the report, Castil said.

Castil said he had goose bumps upon hearing reports that a Cebu Pacific passenger plane had crashed in Negros, but the airline denied it had any missing planes.

He said policemen in Isabela and Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental checked on radio reports of the crash and were told there was none and only a low flying aircraft was seen.

The Moises Padilla police chief had no sleep trying to ascertain the veracity of the report and other police stations also checked in their areas, he said

RMN Iloilo had reported that a passenger plane crashed in Negros on its Facebook page late Thursday night that quickly spread on the internet and caused some people to panic.

RMN Iloilo later posted on its FB page that no crash had occurred, and that a low flying aircraft was mistakenly believed by residents to have crashed.

The local chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines yesterday said it is reminding colleagues in Negros Occidental to observe accuracy in their news reports.

This was after reports that a passenger plane that crashed in a town of Negros Occidental Thursday night, went viral online, and caused panic among residents and netizens, it said

NJUP -Bacolod chairperson, Marchel Espina, in a statement, said: “We have to remember there’s a threat to free press, especially the proliferation of ‘fake news,’ that sole purpose of which is to discredit the legitimate news outlets,” Espina said.

“Journalists should not be peddlers of misinformation,” she added.

“We have to ensure credibility, balance, and accuracy in our reporting,” she added.

Espina said she understands the tight competition among media outlets, but still, “We have a duty to our readers, listeners, viewers, and followers to be responsible.”

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2018/September/15/topstory6.htm