Sacked cops to GMA: Let us clear our names

Fearing that they might not be reassigned and put on "floating status," four of seven senior police chiefs who were recently sacked for their reported failure to curb jueteng have asked President Arroyo to give them a chance to clear their names.

In a joint letter to Mrs. Arroyo dated last Monday – the same day their replacements were sworn into office – Chief Superintendents Reynaldo Berroya, Domingo Reyes, Nicolas Pasinos and Senior Superintendent Leonilo dela Cruz said their relief violated their "constitutional right to due process."

"We respectfully maintain that our relief, without being afforded the opportunity to be fully heard, is an imposition of an administrative violation of the due process of law," their letter stated. "We appeal to you, Mrs. President, to give us a chance to clear our names that equity and justice may be served."

The four officials – along with former Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay, Chief Superintendents Avelino Razon and Antonio Salvacion – were sacked on June 25 by the National Police Commission.

In an earlier resolution, the Napolcom said police commanders would be sacked if jueteng continues to proliferate in their jurisdictions.

In their letter, the four officials said unless their names are cleared the public "will continue to hold the perception that we are undesirable officers."

"Our names and reputation and that of our families, which we hold more dearly than our lives, will be forever tainted most unfairly," they said.

"Our relief, therefore, is plainly and simply, and without playing semantics, ordered because we have either failed to do our official duties through incompetence, or tolerance of the existence of jueteng. Either through incompetence or tolerance, our reputation as career officers is severely and negatively affected," they added.

They said they earlier understood that the President had "recognized the implications of our being relieved and gave instructions that we be transferred instead to other positions corresponding to our ranks."

"We learned, however, that this may not be implemented and we may be placed on floating status," their letter stated. They did not elaborate.

Aglipay had relinquished his post to Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco, while Reyes was replaced as Southern Tagalog regional commander by his deputy Senior Superintendent Medardo Apacible in an acting capacity. Razon was replaced as Western Visayas regional chief by Senior Superintendent Alejandro Lapinid, also in an acting capacity.

Jueteng led to the downfall of former president Joseph Estrada who was toppled in a military-backed popular protest in January 2001 due largely to allegations that he was receiving bribes from illegal gambling operators.

The sacking of the seven had stunned the public since some of them had played key roles in the uprising that toppled Estrada and installed then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in his place.

The country has suffered from an image of being unsafe to tourists and investors due to a rash of kidnap-for-ransom cases and drug-related crimes. Less than two million tourists visit the country each year.

In many instances, the police are perceived as being protectors of crime gangs.

Mrs. Arroyo earlier explained that the seven officials’ relief was in line with her administration’s new policy of "command responsibility" in an attempt to instill police discipline and curb the country’s crime problem.

She gave the chief of the nation’s police force, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, one year to rein in the rash of kidnappings-for-ransom which seemed to have become a cottage industry in the country.

In her State of the Nation Address last week, Mrs. Arroyo branded terrorists and criminals as "enemies of the state" who were threatening national security.

In her speech, Mrs. Arroyo vowed to build a "strong republic by breaking the back of terrorism and criminality," saying that lawlessness was threatening the nation’s security and economic recovery.