Senator Jinggoy Estrada slammed the home visit of an police official of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to a GMA News journalist, saying it was “the most stupid idea.”

In a statement released on Sunday, Oct. 16, Estrada claimed that this was a clear violation of the Data Privacy Act and said that the PNP must be held liable.

“The #PNP has a lot of explaining to do. If the purpose of “home visits” of their personnel to the journalists’ residence is to ensure that there are no “threats” to their lives, why are they not in their proper uniform?“ he underscored.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, GMA News reporter and anchor JP Soriano revealed in a Facebook post that a police officer wearing civilian clothes visited his home and asked him about his condition and if he had been receiving any death threats.

Soriano said the police officer even asked to take a photo of him for documentation purposes, in adherence to the orders from the PNP.

“Why was there no coordination with the local officials and media company/outlet with which the concerned journalist is affiliated? And the most glaring of all, how could they get hold of very personal and sensitive information such as a home address of a journalist? I can see the sense in this move of the PNP but its execution is rather contemptible,“ the Senator said.

Estrada pointed out that if the law enforcement officers wanted to know if there were death threats against journalists, they should have gone to the news company itself.

This, according to him, would make the task of the PNP easier as the news company could identify those journalists who are in need of security assistance.

“Ang mga tagapagpatupad ng batas ay dapat alam kung paano ang tamang pagpapatupad ng mga umiiral na mga batas, hindi ang paglabag ng mga ito,“ Estrada stressed.

Soriano said Interior Secretary Benjamin 'Benhur' Abalos have already called him and assured that they would conduct an immediate investigation on the incident.

He said Abalos also vowed to provide him necessary assistance.