Palace defends PNP, says police force more than Purisima
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang continued to defend the Philippine National Police in the wake of graft and corruption allegations against its chief, Director General Alan Purisima.
Various groups, among them the Coalition of Filipino Consumers (CFC) and Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, have filed criminal and administrative charges against Purisima at the Office of the Ombudsman.
“The police force is more than General Purisima. The police force is not measured on how one assesses General Purisima…There are many committed men and women who do their job commendably,” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
Purisima faced the Senate on Tuesday to talk about the police force’s modernization and rising crime rates, but was instead questioned about his statements of assets and liabilities and net worth.
He said that he accepted an P11-million donation from his friends from the construction industry for his official residence called the “White House” in 2013. However, the actual deed of donation was signed only early September this year. He said that the donation was for the organization and not for him personally.
He claimed that his Prado Toyota Land Cruiser worth P1.5 million, which is originally worth up to P7 million, was bought for a low price because he had a big discount.
Purisima also owned a 4.7-hectare lot, which he bought in 1998.
A police chief earns P107,000 a month.
“Well, I have not spoken to the President about it. But, again, this is an issue where you see General Purisima answering all the questions with candor. And I think you noticed there the… manner by which General Purisima answered those questions and the follow-up questions by Senators Grace Poe and Osmeña and one could see candor there. Whether you would agree or not with that assess[ment]—with that, with those responses, we have to… We have to hand it to General Purisima that he answered all those questions truthfully,” Lacierda said.
He added that it was up to Purisima if he would take a leave of absence or not, but said he was still fit to lead the police organization.
“He has done a number of reforms that he established. Number one is there’s a continuing improvement on the system of reporting all these incidents of crimes, and also, I think, the discipline that he brings into the PNP. As he mentioned, ‘you can report to me all the scalawags,’ and that’s something that you can hold General Purisima to. It’s important for us. Remember, when he assumed office, he already mentioned that all those scalawags would [better] beware and you can… You can rest assured that if there are any complaints against any police personnel, we can rely on General Purisima’s commitment to rid the PNP of the scalawags,” Lacierda said.
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