Arroyo mug shots on Internet fake, says PNP chief

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine National Police Director General Nicanor Bartolome insisted on Tuesday that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s mug shots circulating on the Internet “are not authentic.”

“Let me state for the record that the published pictures are not the authentic mug-shot photos of Representative Arroyo taken during the mandatory booking procedure last Saturday that were submitted to the RTC Branch 112 of Pasay City on Monday,” he said, reading a prepared statement.

But Bartolome said the PNP would continue to keep the original mug shots away from the public eye unless allowed by the court to release them.

He said he had instructed all the arresting officers and the police custodians to ensure that only the Pasay judge hearing the case or his representative would have access to the booking sheets, mug shots and fingerprint cards of Arroyo.

Bartolome cited “several discrepancies” in the published photos and the real mug shots, including characters stamped on the images that read: “CONG GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO and CRIM CASE # R-PSY-11-04432-CR.”

On the original, he said, the caption read: “GLORIA ARROYO Y MACAPAGAL and CC NR. R-PSY-11-04432.”

He said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, which took charge of the booking procedures, had also noted discrepancies in the photo size and dimensions, as well as format of the captions in the published images.

Bartolome said he summoned acting Southern Police District director Senior Superintendent James Bucayu to explain why he confirmed the authenticity of the photos in media interviews.

“He told me that that was not his statement, and that he might have been misquoted,” Bartolome said.