Rep. Dan Fernandez — Photo from the House of Representatives
MANILA, Philippines — After getting former President Rodrigo Duterte to assume responsibility for his bloody war on drugs, House lawmakers have now shifted their focus toward assisting the police officers affected by his bloody campaign.
Chief among the lawmakers’ priorities is to increase the budget of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to cover legal assistance and aid for these cops, as well as financial support for those who were killed or injured in the line of duty.
On Tuesday, the House committee on public order and safety led by Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez staged its first hearing to investigate the criminal and administrative cases faced by police officers who said they merely followed the orders of their superiors when they enforced the war on drugs.
READ: The House quad comm grills Duterte
Also discussed during the meeting was the legal basis of Command Memorandum Circular No. 16-2016, which outlines the strategies and procedures for their anti-illegal drugs operations, remedies for PNP personnel facing criminal and administrative cases, as well as measures to limit the use of deadly force by police.
Promised protection
Fernandez said this was part of an effort to strike a balance between hearing out the families of the victims of the war on drugs and the police officers who were promised safety and protection by the Duterte administration but now feel “deceived.”
“There was a promise that they would be protected and cared for by the Duterte administration, but unfortunately, according to the records of the PNP, no monetary or legal assistance was done,” he noted.
“As such, we want to push for the inclusion of a special account in the proposed national budget that could be used as aid for our law enforcers who need help,” Fernandez added.
The Laguna lawmaker earlier highlighted that some officers were unaware the orders they followed could lead to legal consequences and many believed they were following lawful directives from Duterte and his police chief then, now Sen. Bato dela Rosa.
Killed, wounded
PNP chief Gen. Rommel Marbil earlier said there were 1,286 officers affected by the drug war, 312 of them killed and 974 wounded, from July 2016 to June 2022.
At the same time, at least 214 officers faced 352 criminal cases.
This included two former police officers who are now facing charges of illegal possession of drugs and firearms after their superiors allegedly framed them in 2016.
Former Police Officers 1 Marco Almario of the Zambales Provincial Police Office (PPO) and Sonny Reyes of Quezon City Police District Station 11 said their cases were similar to other drug suspects who were accused of drug charges after having evidence planted against them.
Not enough funds
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said around P200 million was allocated to the Department of the Interior and Local Government, of which the PNP is an attached agency, this year to assist police officers entangled in legal issues.
However, PNP spokesperson Jean Fajardo stressed that this was “not enough to cover all the police officers who are facing service-related cases.”
“If we are indeed serious [about] helping the PNP, we need to increase the PNP’s budget so that our officers don’t hesitate in the line of duty,” Barbers said.
Barbers had earlier noted that many officers were struggling financially due to legal fees.
Fajardo also clarified that legal assistance provisions are limited to service-related charges and any offenses committed by a police officer outside the line of duty are not covered under the proposed assistance.
“If a certain police officer will be charged for a certain offense because of his own doing, meaning not in the actual performance of his duty, this is not covered,” she pointed out.
Many of these cops are assisted by the Office of the Solicitor General but have problems paying off their legal fees.
Review of cases
During the House quad committee hearing last Nov. 13, Duterte admitted he was not aware that there were hundreds of police officers currently facing legal consequences for implementing his war on drugs.
He had also promised to put up P1 million from his personal money to help support police officers in their cases and even made an ambitious commitment to serve as their legal counsel, over which lawmakers expressed skepticism.
Fernandez also called on the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS) to review cases against police officers and to “validate if the charges filed against them were indeed committed by them.”
Misamis Oriental Rep. Yevgeny Emano, meanwhile, suggested additional funding for the IAS, which investigates alleged erring police officers.
Emano also recommended that the IAS be made into an independent agency and not under the PNP and that IAS findings not be subject to the approval of the PNP chief.