A FRIEND who works at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) asked me to enlist Negrense non-government organizations to support her stay at Western Visayas office in Iloilo City.
I ignored her request. She supported me in my environmental issues. But I didn’t think of her support as “utang nga kabalaslan” after we shared common values for protecting the Negrense forests.
But her deployment to another Panay province is something else. It’s an internal organizational matter to the agency. As an outsider, I have no business questioning how DENR conducts its housekeeping.
Then there is the case of acting director of Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office, Senior Superintendent William Señoron.
Señoron was one of the police officers whom Negros Island Region’s top drug suspect Ricky Serenio has implicated on illegal drug trafficking.
I strongly believe in the innocence of William. I consider him a friend since his stint as head of Task Force Ilajas, who has cracked down on illegal logging. Down the road, I believe he will be acquitted on these criminal charges. But let our criminal courts decide on that. The burden of proof to prove his guilt rests on the complainant.
Nor do I question his transfer to the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame. It’s the discretion of his superior officers to assign him to basically a clerical job at the Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit of the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management at the national headquarters.
But I do question President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan to pardon Superintendent Marvin Marcos and other police officers accused with the murder of Albuera town Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., if the accused get convicted. Duterte even promised to even reward them with promotion to the next higher rank.
These are no longer internal PNP organization concerns but that of the public. And private Filipino citizens should step in because such actions violate Section 1, Article III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution that guarantees that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the law.”
Marcos and his fellow co-accused should have disobeyed the commander-in-chief. The Police Officer’s Creed of the Philippine National Police Manual (PNPM 0-08-95 DHRDD) Ethical Doctrine Manual says, “I believe that respect for authority is a duty. I respect and uphold the Constitution, the laws of the land and the applicable rules and regulations. I recognize the legitimacy and authority of the leadership, and obey legal orders of my superior officers.”
Even the National Investigation Bureau and the Department of Justice described the murder of Albuera Mayor Espinosa as a “rubout.” Patently illegal and under the orders of the President.
No, police officers are duty-bound to disobey such orders. And it’s the civic duty of citizens to support this disobedience. This is no longer an internal PNP affair.
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(bqsanc@yahoo.com)
