Katherine Adraneda and Christina Mendez
Philippine Star

Commission on Human Rights chairperson Leila De Lima yesterday asked the Philippine National Police to review its practice of immediately presenting “suspects” in criminal cases to the media. This, as the wife of an alleged primary suspect in the high-profile RCBC massacre sought the help of the human rights body, particularly requesting the CHR to look into the case of her husband, Ricardo Gomolon.

In her letter, Leah Gomolon insisted that her husband, who was a former Army sergeant, was wrongly accused by the PNP as among the suspects in the bloody bank heist in Cabuyao, Laguna on May 16. Mrs. Gomolon insisted that the criminal charge of illegal possession of firearms filed against her husband by the police was fabricated. Gomolon is now detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Biñan, Laguna.

Citing Section 14 of the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the CHR chief stressed that no person should be made to answer for a criminal offense without the due process of law. “The common practice of police authorities to present individuals to the press without presenting any evidence linking them to the crime just to satisfy their superiors is a dangerous act in itself,” De Lima said. “The people look up to them as ‘protectors’ (and) not the oppressors,” she also said.

De Lima recommended the PNP to “go slow” in presenting alleged suspects to the media, as she said that such PNP practice of parading suspects especially in sensational cases must be discouraged. She hinted that an urgent review of the PNP manual is important in order to make sure that police’s presentation of suspects are “human rights compliant.”

According to De Lima, labeling a person as a suspect to a crime without any basis leaves an enduring dishonor not only to the individual involved, but to his or her family or relatives as well.

In related developments, Senators yesterday urged the CHR to file charges against erring police officials who may have disregarded the law and committed human rights violations after the agency tagged the PNP as “number one human rights violators” in the country.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Sen. Francis Escudero shared the same view that the PNP and the CHR should work together in ridding the PNP of bad eggs, file necessary charges against human rights violators within its ranks.

Escudero lauded the CHR for conducting the review of the PNP’s human rights performance and mapping out recommendations for the PNP in a bid to address them.

Pimentel also said the PNP leadership should act at once against the police violators to prevent the PNP from “suffering disgrace from exceedingly shameful conduct.”

“Cases should be filed against PNP suspects immediately to spare the organization from public opprobrium,” Pimentel said.

Nevertheless, the PNP maintained yesterday that their practice of parading suspected criminals before the media was not meant to humiliate the arrested individuals but to inform the public of the police action against criminality.

Metro Manila Police chief Director Geary Barias said the media presentation of suspects was part of the effort to convey to the public that the PNP is working to make the streets free from criminals.

“We just want to convey to the public that the PNP is doing something. Nowhere in the presentation that we say these arrested guys are guilty,” said Barias in a press conference.

De Lima took offense of the police presentation to the media of suspected criminals while clad in the familiar orange T-shirt printed with the words “Police Detainee.”

Barias said operatives would wait for the guidelines from the PNP leadership under chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr., the National Police Commission (Napolcom), which supervise the PNP and the CHR.

“We would definitely consider Chairperson de Lima’s observation and would coordinate with her. And the manner of presentation can be changed. That’s a good observation and it’s being studied to become a policy,” said Barias. “The PNP leadership will try to balance the dissemination of information to media while at the same time protecting the rights of suspects.”

“Maybe the suspects’ faces should remain covered because they might be absolved later,” he added.

De Lima, who was the guest of honor and speaker during the first anniversary of the PNP’s Human Rights Affairs Office, also said that the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines remain on top of the list of human rights violations.

“Nangunguna pa rin (ang PNP and AFP) based on statistics until late 2007. We are still in the process of coming with a clear database on all of this,” said de Lima. “One of my plans is to make CHR the center repository of the official statistics and data. We would want to heed one of the recommendations of the Alston report that the CHR would issue regular monthly status reports so the public is apprised of these cases.”

The CHR chair said they would remain as watchdog on human rights violations, thus giving the perception that the CHR is an anti-government agency. “The perception is we are anti-government but we should understand normally the human rights victims are the ones who would approach and they are those families of victims, extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention, illegal arrest and many of these are part of the militant groups.”

– With Cecille Suerte Felipe