MANILA, Philippines — Police Major General Debold Sinas should have been investigated and relieved from his post long before violating quarantine protocols for dozens of human rights violations committed during his stint as Central Visayas police chief, a rights organization said Wednesday.
Sinas, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, is facing criminal and administrative cases filed by the Philippine National Police for violating quarantine rules during his birthday celebration.
Related Stories
Despite fierce criticisms and calls for his resignation, Sinas will remain as Metro Manila’s top cop, President Rodrigo Duterte said. The chief executive argued it was not the police official’s fault that he was serenaded by his subordinates during his birthday.
Police General Archie Gamboa, PNP chief, earlier said Sinas will retain his position because he is “hard to replace.”
Human rights group Karapatan said that shielding Sinas from criticisms and keeping him as NCRPO chief do not only promote impunity but also reveal how the government is “coddling perpetrators of human rights violations.”
“There is no reason to spare Sinas from condemnation. With the trail of killings, illegal arrest and detention, and other criminal acts committed in the course of the implementation of the local synchronized enhanced management of police operations in Negros, which were committed under his purview, he is in no way ‘good and honest,’” Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, said.
“The most reasonable thing that the government should do is to relieve him from his post and to hold him accountable, along with other perpetrators of human rights violations,” she added.
The rights group said “state terrorism has tormented the Negrenses” when Sinas took the helm as the police director of Central Visayas in July 2018. He was named Metro Manila’s top cop in October 2019.
According to CHR Central Visayas in August last year, there were 22 killings in Negros Oriental alone between June 27 and July 28. Critics said the killings and political persecution of peasants and activists in the area could be attributed to the “Oplan Sauron,” the implementing program in Negros of Duterte’s Memorandum Order 32. MO 32 ordered the deployment of additional police and military forces to Samar, Negros provinces and the Bicol region to “suppress lawless violence and acts of terror.”
“We would like to remind the regime that throughout the killings and other forms of human rights violations in Negros, no due process, including an independent investigation, had been done and until now, the victims and their families are still crying for justice,” Palabay said. — Gaea Katreena Cabico