In spite of the rhetorical fireworks between Senator Leila De Lima and the Palace, the Senate hearing was held as scheduled. By and large, the two-day hearing was conducted with utmost civility and were both instructive and revealing. This was perhaps because although the President was not in the Senate chamber physically, his presence was palpable. All the sides were able to present their views in a way that was not offensive to anyone.
If at all, the hearings showed not only to the Philippine public but also the international community that the principle of checks and balances as practiced in our system of government is alive and well. Due to the controversial subject of the hearing, most of the members of the Senate were in attendance. Both the newcomers and the veterans came ready with their questions and opinions. And why not? It was show time and most of them wasted no time in charging into battle so to speak.
Some did well, some were mediocre at best and others quite frankly are in need of more tutorial. Like many Senate hearings, the proceedings meandered somewhat to other topics but this in a way was good because many issues were brought out. They in turn educated the viewing public to better understand the prevailing peace-and-order situation and the extent of the illegal drug problem.
There were pluses and minuses on both sides. The critics had their say on what they termed as an unacceptable number of people being killed. The PNP was also able to highlight its position. The hearing of course did not solve anything. After all, it was held in aid of legislation; we will all have to wait and see what sort of law will be crafted to improve police capability and methods.
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The plus on the side of the PNP was that its chief, Bato De la Rosa, was able to make a peace and order presentation. Because of the campaign, the peace and order situation improved significantly for the first half of the year. For the month of July alone, crime volume went down by 31 percent. This was accomplished in spite of serious deficiencies in firearms, vehicles and communication equipment.
If I am not mistaken, the PNP is short of 6,000 vehicles and 18,000 firearms. The PNP strength of 160,000 is also short of the ideal. There is supposed to be one policeman per 500 people. The training of recruits and career training programs is handled by another agency. This is a problem that has never been resolved and is the only one of its kind in the world. Training is the instrument that builds tradition, esprit de corps and discipline if handled by the same organization but this is not the case with the PNP. This problem was clearly demonstrated by the behavior of the two policemen who were called to testify.
The current Chief of Police of Pasay City also appeared not to know the difference between homicide and murder – and to think that he is a chief of police! Maybe Senator Ping Lacson, being the chairman of the Committee on Public Order, can finally do it. To the credit of the PNP, it showed its willingness to charge its members who clearly have committed abuses in the conduct of anti-drug operations.
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The statement of the two resource speakers whose family members were killed in the conduct of police operations was powerful and compelling. The PNP cannot simply ignore it. Assuming that all their statements were true, the police has a lot of explaining to do and hopefully, these two cases are the exceptions and not the rule. In the case of the Pasay City operations wherein father and son were killed under police custody, it was clear that the operation from the beginning was conducted illegally. There was no search warrant and the conduct of the raiding party was unacceptable.
What one of the policemen did to the two-year-old daughter of Hara Kozou, the witness, was also tantamount to sexual perversion. The two were subsequently killed under police custody and appeared to have been tortured before being killed. This is the reason why murder charges were filed against two members of the raiding team. Nothing however, was mentioned about other charges being filed against the other members of the raiding team.
In the case of the Antipolo couple who were also killed, it would appear that it was a case of the policemen engaged in the illegal drug trade wanting to cover their tracks. But what does that say of the police killing their own assets? This will make it harder to recruit informers—indispensable to police work. Some of the police mentioned in the Antipolo raid have already gone on Awol and are apparently now being hunted.
The PNP leadership, at least in these two cases, have shown open mindedness to go after scalawags in uniform and hopefully will do the same in other similar cases where there is clearly police abuse. Only by doing this can the public completely trust the police to do the right thing. We still do not know where the illegal drug campaign is heading or when and how it will eventually end. Even as I write this piece, the President again implicated Senator Leila De Lima, a governor and a former undersecretary of Justice. However this campaign ends, let us all hope that the medicine being prescribed will indeed cure the disease instead of killing the patient in the end.