The Philippine National Police on Wednesday threw its “full support” for the proposals to require law enforcers to wear body cameras, but said it was iffy on the provision treating failure to switch them on with the “presumption of irregularity and misconduct.”
Chief Supt. Emmanuel Licup, PNP deputy director for operations, said such provisions proposed for anti-crime operations that result in injury or death “should be thoughtfully deliberated.”
“It is far from the prevailing presumption that official duty has been regularly performed. In the law of evidence, the prevailing presumption is that regularity is to be presumed,” he said during the House of Representatives public order committee’s Wednesday hearing.
Besides that concern, Licup said the PNP welcomes the proposal because it would “provide concrete evidence to hold erring policemen administratively and criminally liable and [shield] law-abiding policemen from allegations of irregularity and misconduct.”
He even said cameras should be used not only in anti-crime operations, but also in checkpoints and the enforcement of court orders.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights also supported the bills for “strengthening both police and civilian accountability” and improving the gathering of evidence.
Body cameras would “promote a sense of legitimacy and procedural justice expected of public officials,” said CHR Policy Office development management officer Maria Janina Belen.
However, she stressed that this should be weighed against the right to privacy, and called for safeguards to ensure it is not compromised.
None of the government agencies invited to the hearing – including the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, National Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration, and the Philippine Coast Guard – posed any objection to the measures.
This was the first hearing held on House Bills No. 2741, 5830, 6250 and 6433, authored by Reps. Rozzano Rufino Biazon, Luisa Lloren Cuaresma, Aniceto ‘John’ Bertiz III, and Gary Alejano.