Senators tell PNP: Clean your ranks
January 20, 2017 | 2:02pm
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said PNP DIrector General Ronald Dela Rosa should not waste time in addressing the issue by going after all rogue cops.
PCOO / Robert Viñas, File
MANILA, Philippines — Senators on Friday condemned the killing of a Korean businessman inside Camp Crame, with a former national police calling the incident a wake-up call for the Philippine National Police.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, PNP chief during the Estrada administration, on Friday said that PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa should lose no time addressing the issue by going after all rogue cops "who only care about their personal gains."
He said that "priority must be against those who take advantage of the president's all-out, mostly bloody war against illegal drugs."
Lacson said that he was really hard on the "inept, corrupt, and undisciplined" policemen during his time as PNP chief, and is sure that Dela Rosa knows how to do it as well "because he was one of those at the forefront of our no-nonsense internal cleansing of the police."
Sen. Francis Escudero, meanwhile, called the killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo embarrassing, "outright wrong and unacceptable." He said Jee's abduction and murder, allegedly by police officers, showed a lack of respect for Dela Rosa and for the PNP as an organization.
"This is what happens when you handle with kid gloves abusive PNP officers and coddle and protect them," Escudero said, referring to the same-day reinstatement of Superintendent Marvin Marcos, the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief implicated in the death of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Jr. while in government custody last November.
The mayor, father of alleged drug lord Rolan "Kerwin" Espinosa, allegedly died in a firefight with police who were at a provincial jail to serve a search warrant.
Marcos was reinstated on President Rodrigo Duterte's orders. Duterte has maintained that he will stand by police officers, including Marcos, and has referred to the late mayor as a "son of a bitch" in his speeches.
Sen. Leila de Lima, a former Justice Secretary, said that "this is the logical and necessary outcome of giving unlimited power and virtual immunity to policemen."
She added that the current administration should not complain about the crimes allegedly committed by the policemen since they themselves encouraged lawlessness in their war against drugs, and tolerated the summary executions of drug suspects.
Sen. Win Gatchalian, in a statement to media, said the incident "highlights the urgent need for the PNP to cleanse its ranks of dirty cops."
"Gruesome cases of police impunity like this call into question the integrity of the police and the legitimacy of their anti-crime mission," he said.
More than 2,000 drug suspects have been killed in police operations since the government began its crackdown on illegal drugs in July. Thousands of others have died in killings that the police have attributed to assassins, vigilantes and drug syndicates.
"I am one with the president in the fight against crime, but we must also face a brutal fact: We will lose this fight if the people lose faith in our police force," he warned.
He said that Dela Rosa must immediately launch a "police purification program" to identify and remove corrupt police officers from the PNP.
According to the Department of Justice, Jee and his helper Marisa Morquicho were taken from their house in Angeles, Pampanga on Oct. 18, 2016 and brought to Camp Crame.
Jee was executed by Senior Police Officer 3 Ricky Sta. Isabel at the PNP headquarters, according to co-accused SPO4 Roy Villegas in his affidavit.
Sta. Isabel made the family of Jee believe that he was still alive and asked for P5 million as ransom from his wife, Choi Kyungjin.
Dela Rosa meanwhile apologized to the South Korean government in a press conference in Malacañang. on Thursday
"I’m very sorry this crime happened and my men were involved. We’ll give them proper explanation in due time," Dela Rosa said.
He said that he felt offended and angry, and would have killed the offenders it were allowed by law, and added that President Duterte was angry as well.
'Philippines may be liable'
Meanwhile, Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque said in a statement that the Philippines may be held liable for failing to protect the life of foreign nationals in its territory, especially if it fails to investigate and punish the alleged culprits
He added that the Philippines is bound by international obligations to apologize to the South Korean government and pay compensation "to the extent that it will extinguish all the consequences of the illegal act."
Roque, in a statement sent by the Center for International Law, explained that since the suspected killers are members of the PNP, they are considered agents of the Philippine government regardless of their acts.
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