Tuesday, March 06, 2007 Briefing for volunteers in major events sought By Jane Cadalig
TO AVOID any commotion during the coverage of grand occasions, the proper briefing of civic volunteers who will be tapped to augment public safety and crowd control forces in Baguio will be sought from organizers.
This developed, after the local bureau of the Kabataan News Network (KNN), a youth program aired over one of the country’s giant television networks, called for the conduct of a thorough briefing of volunteers who will be deployed during big events to ensure that proper decorum is observed as they exercise their assigned tasks.
KNN Baguio bureau manager Joseph Zambrano made the appeal to Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. (BFFFI) chairman Damaso Bangaoet after a melee erupted between KNN child reporters and two communication group volunteers identified as Daniel Hernandez Lozano and Rudy Lasatan Jr. during the Panagbenga floral float parade last February 25.
In a letter, Zambrano informed the BFFFI that the KNN reporters were “forcibly evicted” from the area where they were positioned for coverage.
Lozano and Lasatan reportedly did not honor the BFFFI accreditation cards issued to the KNN reporters, who were then stationed at the rotunda of Session Road.
Although the children explained that they were covering the parade and were given accreditation, the two volunteers from the B-Patrol assigned along Governor Pack Road pushed them out from their designated area.
"(Our) youth reporters showed their accreditation from the BFFFI but Mr. Lozano and Mr. Lasatan still dragged them out from the coverage area. Lozano also grabbed and hit (one of the children) on the head and pushed them out of the street," Zambrano told Bangaoet in the letter.
The children had no recourse then but to pull out from the coverage area and report the incident to the police.
The KNN reporters were tapped by the Baguio bureau to feature this year’s flower festival staging, taking cognizance of the fact that most of the participants of the said affair are children and the youth.
KNN is a joint project of the Philippine Information Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Probe Media Foundation, which is aired over ABS-CBN from 7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. every Saturday.
