Purisima to bare all in Senate
PNP Director General Alan Purisima: Three complaints. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/EDWIN BACASMAS
MANILA, Philippines–After snubbing the Senate not once but twice, Alan Purisima is now prepared to bare his soul.
The director general of the Philippine National Police is finally showing up in a hearing in the upper chamber to answer all charges of plunder, corruption and bribery leveled against him and a surge in criminality that have led to public demands that he resign.
On the eve of his Senate appearance, a third complaint was filed by the watchdog Volunteers against Crime and Corruption (VACC) in the Office of the Ombudsman, this time accusing Purisima of accumulating P120 million in unexplained wealth.
Senior Supt. Wilben Mayor, the newly appointed PNP spokesman, said Purisima, who returned on Sunday from a four-day conference in Bogota, Colombia, on kidnapping and extortion, had been invited by Sen. Grace Poe to attend the hearing of her committee on public order on Tuesday.
“The PNP chief will attend the said hearing. He will clarify all issues before the Senate,” Mayor said in a press briefing in Camp Crame.
Mayor appealed to the public to cut the PNP chief some slack. “Let us remember that he just arrived from abroad late Sunday night. He might be suffering from jet lag, so let us give consideration for that,” Mayor said.
He said that the allegations against Purisima still had to be “proven in the proper forum.”
‘Personal matter’
“That is a personal matter so that is up to him to explain. In the whole context, allegation is not tantamount to guilt. It’s hard to assume that one is guilty just because of an allegation. Let us give him the opportunity to explain his side,” he said. “Now that he’s here, he now has an opportunity to answer all the allegations and he will answer that in the Senate.”
Poe welcomed Purisima’s acceptance of her invitation. The senator said she would focus on the law and order situation.
“Basically, [my questions] will be peace and order concerns, and especially the presence or lack of credible and effective leadership,” the senator said.
In Zamboanga City, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said President Aquino also was waiting for Purisima’s report on his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), which has been questioned in the Ombudsman. “When it comes to specifics, he is the best person to explain to the people, not only to me, what’s in his SALN,” Roxas said.
The embattled PNP chief is facing criticism from all sides—for his alleged undeclared properties, the controversial construction of his official residence in Camp Crame, dubbed the “White House,” the rising crime rates and the involvement of policemen in some well-publicized incidents of gun-for-hire killings, kidnappings and broad daylight robbery-holdup.
Despite the public attacks against him, Purisima’s morale is high and he has no plans of resigning, Mayor said.
Purisima or his lawyer would answer personal issues, while Mayor said that he, as PNP spokesman, would deal with organizational matters.
Mayor said the PNP had consistently answered queries on the White House issue and on the crime statistics and that Roxas, who supervises the police force, was giving weekly updates on these.
The PNP chief has been absent in Senate hearings at least twice—the first, when he sent another official in his stead, while the second hearing was done while he was in Colombia over a week ago.
Purisima has yet to answer or explain the allegations against him which began as early as April when a private complainant charged him with plunder over alleged anomalies in the P100-million contract for the delivery of firearms licenses.
Last week, the Coalition of Filipino Consumers filed a case before the Office of the Ombudsman, charging him with indirect bribery, plunder and graft over his properties and the White House controversy.–With a report from Julie S. Alipala
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