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MANILA, Philippines — The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Thursday said it plans to implement “Oplan Sita” on foreigners in checkpoints around Metro Manila, given the spike in crimes involving non-citizens.
The proposed policy would allow police officers to inspect and verify the IDs of random foreign people, according to NCRPO chief PBGen. Jonnell Estomo at a Senate committee hearing on the current rash of crimes.
“Ang plano ko sana sir, ipapauso ko ‘yung ‘oplan sita’ sa mga foreign nationals, halimbawa sa checkpoint, oplan sita ‘pag may nakitang Chinese o foreigner, hihingan ng ID,” said Estomo.
(My plan, sir, is to introduce the ‘oplan sita’ to foreign nationals, for example, at a checkpoint, in ‘Oplan Sita’, if there’s a Chinese or foreigner, we will ask for an ID.)
After that, Senator Bato dela Rosa questioned Estomo about why PNP hadn’t implemented it sooner.
The head of NCRPO explained that they were concerned about crossing the line of authority of BI.
However, Fortunato Manahan Jr., the head of the BI, reassured the NCRPO that such a plan falls squarely within the purview of the PNP.
“May jurisdiction naman po ang law enforcements, especially the PNP to check. Sa amin po we’re focusing on immigration violations and immigration violators,” said Manahan who was also present in the hearing.
(Law enforcement has jurisdiction, especially the PNP, to check [on foreigners]. As for us, we’re focusing on immigration violations and immigration violators.)
However, Senator Grace Poe raised serious concerns about the plan.
“Ano ‘to ‘pag may nakitang sasakyan tapos Chinese national pipiglan mo ganoon? May danger diyan,” Poe asked.
(Do you intend to stop any vehicle carrying a Chinese national? In this case, I see a danger. )
She explaine on how officers should never target a certain group of people for more scrutiny and how they should always have “cause to check” random persons.
“Meron dapat kayong cause to check, kasi baka mamaya hindi niyo alam mukhang Chinese… tapos ito’y mga Chinese-Filipino, so we can’t discriminate.”
(You’d better have a good reason to check because it may pass for Chinese at first glance… but then you’d find out that they’re actually Chinese-Filipino and we can’t discriminate.)
“So dapat merong cause, siguro ‘yung rehistro, walang plate number, sobrang tint, dapat merong cause to check them,” she added.
(So there must be a cause, like [no car] registration, no plate number, [window] tint is too dark, there must be a cause to check them.)
She instructed Estomo to draft policy guidelines for submission to the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs.
The Senate is investigating a recent spike in crimes committed by noncitizens.
On Monday, even the Chinese Embassy in Manila requested Philippine authorities to intensify efforts to protect its nationals amid a spike in kidnapping cases involving Chinese victims.
For its part, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported that it had already rescued 43 foreign workers in a raid.