(CNN Philippines, February 8) — The police official who reportedly seized a television journalist’s phone during the Black Nazarene procession in Manila early in January has been promoted.
Southern Police District chief Brigadier General Nolasco Bathan was designated as Deputy Regional Director for Operation of the National Capital Region Police Office, according to a press statement Friday by the Philippine National Police.
Bathan replaced Brigadier General Albert Ferro, who is now the Regional Director of Police Regional Office 7 in Central Visayas.
Bathan became controversial last January after he seized a television reporter’s cellphone, who was recording a video of a police tackling down a Nazarene devotee along Ayala Bridge.
The police general apologized for the incident because he thought that the journalist was a “threat” and did not recognize he was part of the media.
