Purisima shows up at Rizal Day rites in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Alan Purisima showed up garbed as the Grand Master of the Philippine Freemasonry at the Rizal Day celebration held here yesterday.

“I was invited as a special guest,” Purisima, who came here to attend his daughter’s wedding last Monday, told journalists as he headed back to his vehicle.

Cordillera police director Chief Superintendent Isagani Nerez said Purisima was invited to the 118th Rizal Day rites as an official of the Philippine Freemasonry. Purisima holds the title of the Most Worshipful Grand Master.

“Like our brother Jose P. Rizal, let us be purveyors of peace rather than violence. We should use peaceful means to vindicate ourselves and expel tyrants,” Purisima told the gathering of Masons, local officials and guests.

“Never will evil triumph over good… Those who possess the truth shall always prevail,” he added.

The Office of the Ombudsman ordered Purisima and several other police officers suspended for six months in connection with an alleged anomalous gun license delivery deal with a private company in 2011.

At the same gathering, Mayor Mauricio Domogan spoke on how Rizal lived his life to inspire Filipinos to rise up against exploitation and abuse.

Domogan referred to Purisima as “one of ours.”