PNP open to investigation amid criticism of 'militarized' COVID-19 response
MANILA, Philippines — The chief of the national police on Thursday defended lapses by police personnel, saying they would be open to probes into cases of overzealous enforcement.
In a public address aired on Thursday afternoon, Police Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, PNP chief, highlighted that action is being taken on the incidents, and that members of the police force cannot use being human as an excuse.
"We are open for you to investigate the PNP. On our part, we keep on reminding our policemen. If there are incidents like that, we impartially investigate them, and then we update the public about it," Gamboa said in a mix of Filipino and English, responding to the United Nation's claim that the country's COVID-19 response was "highly militarized."
Gamboa also stressed that reports of missteps on the part of the national police are still just allegations of abuse and not officially recognized as such.
"Police are only human that's why they are also prone to errors in judgment when they're tired and stressed," he said.
"But I told them that we can't use that as an excuse that we're tired and it's hot so we forget our police operational procedure. I also told our commanders to keep on reminding our policemen to follow our operational procedure."
He also said that factors are considered when rotating policemen, including their rest and time with their families.
'Martial Law-like' implementation
Over the past month, Gamboa and other ranking police officials repeatedly said the national police would tighten its enforcement of quarantine rules and would no longer warn people before arresting them.
READ: PNP: We'll go 'straight to arrests' in 'martial law-type' quarantine
Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson, earlier told Philstar.com that this shift had nothing to do with President Rodrigo Duterte's warning of quarantine implementation that would be "like martial law."
Since this pronouncement, though, police have shot a man despite neighbors telling them the man had mental health issues and was not armed, attempted to arrest a man in his own lawn, and barged into a private condominium after threatening to jail its security detail.
A man was also beaten with sticks in Quezon City although, based on viral videos, this was at the hands of city "enforcers".
While the people involved may have violated quarantine guidelines, a closer look at these cases also reveals that police officers deviated from the national police's manual, a public document, of operational procedures.
'Non-violent' equipment
On the subject of dealing with violent civilians, Gamboa disclosed that the national police is planning to obtain stun guns to deal with aggressive citizens.
“It is part of the plan of PNP. We call it non-violent or those equipment other than the firearms, and the Taser falls under this,” he said.
“All of these things are being evaluated by the Directorate of Logistics under the procurement management committee who deliberates on what to procure."
Taser, a brand of stun guns "fires a rapid series of electric pulses that cycle for five seconds," Wired reported in 2009.
"As electricity courses down the motor nerves, it overrides the weaker signals from the brain and causes violent contractions in the muscle groups around the darts. The contractions are so powerful that, in rare instances, they can cause sprains or even fractures," the report also read.
Rules 7.4 and 7.5 of the PNP Operational Procedures say that police may only use "more extreme, but non-deadly measures" and "only such necessary and reasonable force should be applied as would be sufficient to overcome the resistance" when dealing with violent or armed offenders.
The police chief disclosed that Police MSgt. Daniel Florendo, the cop responsible for the death of former soldier Cpl. Winston Ragos—whom Gamboa previously said was simply following instructions—is still under restrictive custody with his case pending within PNP internal affairs.
He is facing an administrative case within the PNP while the military has also filed a homicide case against him.
"I've heard that [National Police Commission] might take jurisdiction of the (internal affairs) case," the police chief added.
Speaking about Police SMSgt. Roland Madrona, the cop who attempted to arrest an aggressive and irate foreign national in his own home after the latter berated Madrona, Gamboa said he "carried out the usual duty of a policeman."
As for the Quezon City beating at the hands of the city's Task Force Disiplina detail, Gamboa said he reminded policemen to follow procedures, though he did not mention if police officers were involved in that incident.
RELATED: Quezon City enforcers to withdraw rap vs 'ECQ violator' they beat with sticks
'It takes two to tango': Who is responsible?
There have been cases of vigorous enforcement since the onset of the enhanced community quarantine though government agencies including the Interior Department, under which the national police is an attached bureau, continue to defend these actions.
"Whatever [the Commission on Human Rights] and other entities said, we invite them to investigate themselves if possible human rights violations really did happen," Gamboa said.
"In this lonely battle...we also get bashed over the most trivial issues," he said earlier.
According to Section 6 of the PNP’s Chief of Police manual, which touches on the doctrine of command responsibility, “chiefs of Police shall also be held responsible for every breach of discipline, lapses in security, abuse of authority or violation of human rights or law committed by the men under them.”
In an earlier interview with ANC, Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, Joint Task Force COVID Shield commander, highlighted that the public would also have to do its part in avoiding similar incidents in the future.
READ: ECQ enforcement chief says public should follow rules, respect cops to avoid incidents
"It takes two to tango...It is important that cooler heads should always prevail," Eleazar said.
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