(FILE) VITAL EQUIPMENT Police Maj. Gen. Angelito Casimiro, the PNP director for logistics, oversees a training session on the use of body cameras. The cameras are to be used in routine patrols and field operations —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — Operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) will start using body cameras (body cams) by April to clear questions arising from police operations that end in deaths, Malacañang said Thursday.
Roque said the body cams are ready and members of the PNP are training how to use body cameras in operations.
“Naririyan na po ang mga body cams, nagti-training na po tayo at inaasahan po natin magagamit na po ang mga body cams na ‘yan sa buwan ng Abril nang maiwasan na po iyong pagduda ng taumbayan kung ano talaga ang mga pangyayari ‘pag mayroon pong napatay,” he said in a Palace briefing.
(The body cams are already there. Police officers are now training how to use them and we expect that these body cams will be in use by April to avoid doubts from the public as to what really happens in operations where someone gets killed.)
“Kasi ‘yang body cam po ay physical evidence at hindi po magsisinungaling ang physical evidence,” he added.
(The body cams are physical evidence and physical evidence does not lie.)
Roque made the assurance following the killing of nine activists in police raids in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) region.
Last March 7, nine persons whom human rights groups said were activists, were killed in simultaneous police operations in the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite.
Despite condemnation of the killings, the PNP maintains that the activists resisted arrest and fought police and soldiers — or “nanlaban” in Filipino.
As of now, the Commission on Human Rights and the task force on extrajudicial killings headed by the Department of Justice have vowed to conduct separate investigations.
The PNP has purchased a total of 2,696 body cams in 2019, which have already been distributed among police stations across the country, where they will be reconfigured on their docking stations.