Drilon: Why did cops rush raps?

Senator Franklin Drilon is wondering why police probers did not wait for the Senate to conclude its investigation into the anomalous purchase of helicopters by the Philippine National Police before they charged former first gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo and 25 others with plunder and other crimes before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Drilon said he was worried that resource persons the Senate may call to the inquiry and who were among those charged with Arroyo might now refuse to testify before the committee for fear of incriminating themselves.

The senator also wanted to know why the PNP, specifically the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, did not file administrative charges against the police officers involved in the alleged anomaly before the National Police Commission.

“Obviously they (PNP-CIDG) applied the shotgun approach—let the Ombudsman look for the evidence,” said Drilon.

As for why the CIDG would do this, he said: “Let the people conclude [that]. I’m just stating the facts here.”

Drilon said he would pose his questions to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo this morning when the latter appears at the Senate to defend the 2012 budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

At the same time, the senator reminded the PNP that Lionair owner Archibald Po was already in the Witness Protection Program. This after the CIDG included Po as a respondent in the case against Mike Arroyo.

It was Po who blew the whistle on the sale of five-year-old helicopters supposedly owned by Arroyo to the PNP as brand new.

“The Senate has the power to place a witness in the program. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has already approved the motion of the blue ribbon committee and we have sent the request to the Department of Justice as the implementor of the law,” Drilon said.

For his part, Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, in a phone interview, said the blue ribbon committee agreed to grant Po immunity “even before he testified, considering he is a primary witness who linked Mike Arroyo directly to the case.”

Blue ribbon chairman Senator Teofisto Guingona III noted though that the senators had no control over whom the PNP would decide to charge.