PNP Spokesperson Sr. Supt. Benigno Durana Jr. INQUIRER.net file photo
The Philippine National Police (PNP) does not need to be instructed by anyone on not to follow illegal orders concerning the possible arrest of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a police official said on Wednesday.
PNP Spokesperson Senior Supt. Benigno Durana Jr. said this after Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano told the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) not to follow “illegal orders” regarding the arrest of Trillanes.
READ: Alejano to AFP, PNP: Ignore Duterte’s ‘illegal order’ to arrest Trillanes
“Number one, it’s his opinion. Number two, we don’t need to be told,” Durana said in a press briefing.
“The Philippine National Police does not need to be told that we should not follow illegal orders. The President down to the last citizen of this country know for a fact that the Philippine National Police is mandated to enforce the law without fear or favor within the bounds of the law based on our constitutional mandate,” he said.
According to Durana, it’s “so much of a stretch of the imagination in the part of anybody to say that [the police] will follow illegal orders.”
Asked if he was specifically saying that it was only Alejano’s imagination that authorities will follow orders outside the law, he said it’s “probably… the impression.”
Durana, however, clarified that it is not within the boundaries of the PNP to identify if the order to arrest Trillanes is illegal.
“As to whether the order is illegal or not, it’s not a question, hindi po namin (it’s not our) dominion. It’s the court who will decide whether anything is illegal or not,” he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier ordered to revoke the amnesty granted to Trillanes for his involvement in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege that were launched to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Durana said authorities will immediately arrest Trillanes as soon as the Makati Regional Trial Court releases the warrant. /jpv
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