MANILA, Philippines — Despite seeming inaction so far on cases of harassment, the Philippine National Police said Thursday that it meant to harm against community pantry organizers.
Community pantries have sprouted across the country since last month but have also reported harassment and profiling by cops.
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In a statement sent to reporters Thursday, Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP chief, maintained that the organization has never officially sanctioned the harassment and profiling of community pantry organizers, instances of which have been reported across the country.
"I have instructed our police to assist and protect community pantry organizers in their area of responsibility and ensure that health protocols are followed," he said.
The police chief also disclosed that the PNP Directorate for Police Community Relations already crafted guidelines for police personnel in engaging with organizers of community pantries, under which police presence should only be to maintain peace and order and to ensure minimum public health safety standards are strictly observed.
'No bad intentions'
He pointed to the apology of Police Brig. Gen. Vincent Calanoga, chief of the PNP Human Rights Affairs Office, to the community pantry organizers who felt threatened or intimidated by the actions of some police officers at Wednesday afternoon's hearing of the House Committee on Human Rights.
"This is proof that there are no bad intentions on the part of the PNP," Eleazar said, urging community pantry organizers who felt harassed, intimidated, or threatened by police personnel to immediately file a complaint. "You can be sure that we'll act on it immediately."
The police chief made the same statement earlier, urging Maginhawa pantry organizer Ana Patricia Non to go to the police to forward her complaints of death threats and red-tagging. These came after police went to the community pantry and asked her for personal information, including her relationship status.
"What about the other community pantries experiencing harassment? We need to make sure the culture of intimidation is addressed. They can't just share red-tagging posts and then tell us to trust them," she said then.
"It's been hard to talk to them the past few days because their treatment has been stiff...they didn't try to build a relationship with my community pantry."
READ: With harassment of pantry organizers unaddressed, PNP offers assistance to Non amid threats
Non-apology?
Despite its supposed apologies on one hand, PNP leadership has also rejected claims of harassment on the other.
"If the public will interpret everything as harassment, then we will always lose," Eleazar said partially in Filipino earlier at his first press briefing as the new chief of the PNP.
Though he apologized at Wednesday's hearing, the PNP-HRAO chief in the same breath was also careful to voice his disagreement with the allegations.
"If we hurt anyone, it's only right to apologize, but we do not think that there was any profiling that happened. The questioning of our patrol officers is part of their job so they understand the situation in their locality. That's their mandate," Calanoga said Wednesday.
Calanoga added that allegations of police profiling are already under investigation and being acted upon.
As it currently stands, a number of community pantries have already had to close their doors after encounters with cops who asked for personal information.
- One pantry organizer in Marikina was asked for his contact information and personal address. Police also asked him if he was a member of any organization and offered him a ride home afterwards.
- Two organizers in a town in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao were made to fill up an internal memo handed to them by local police.
- Another pantry in Pandacan, Manila opted to close its doors out of fear for the safety of its volunteers after cops asked them to fill up a data sheet.
READ: Days after encounters with police, fear remains for those accosted
Organizers call for accountability, not 'apology'
In an online exchange with Philstar.com, one community pantry organizer who earlier reported harassment from police, described the reaction as "disappointing," saying he "just doesn't buy it."
The organizer earlier reported being approached by cops who got their contact details and personal address.
"I will only believe that their intention is to help when they hold officers involved in profiling and harassment accountable," he said partially in Filipino. "They can't fix this with apologies. Hold them accountable."
The pantry organizer, who requested anonymity, said he has not left his house since his run-in with the police. Funds for his community pantry have since been donated to other community pantries in the area.
"If they are courageous enough, then they should hold these officers accountable and if they value the name of the PNP profiling and red-tagging shouldn't happen in the first place," he also said.
Ia Marañon, who reported similar profiling after organizing another community pantry in Quezon City, called the apology "unnecessarily self-flagellating with no sense of responsibility" in a text message to Philstar.com.
To recall, Marañon's was one of the first pantries to report intimidation from cops on social media after her group was approached by two cops in drab camouflage asking for information on the organizers and their affiliations.
"This apology by the PNP does not answer the fact that the officers who dropped by our pantry said that they were sanctioned by the station," she said.
"I'm also not sure about reporting to the PNP the issues of the PNP."
The community pantry organizer also questioned the PNP chief's narrative, saying the Quezon City Police District officers who dropped by their pantry said that they were sanctioned by the station.
"This irresponsible move by the PNP should not be relegated to the narrative of a 'few bad cops' who went to the pantries on their own whims. I find it hard to believe this wasn't sanctioned by higher-ups," she said.
READ: Harassment of community pantries leads to clamped operations