The Philippine National Police (PNP) should enforce strictly its motto “To serve and Protect” instead of “violating the rule of law and threatening the rights to life and liberty of the people in the exercise of its power,” the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said on Sunday, March 14.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
In a statement, the CHR – through its Spokesperson and lawyer Jacqueline Ann de Guia – asked the PNP “to come up with clearer guidelines for its law enforcers on information gathering to assure the public of the reasonable exercise of police power.”
The commission said it was alarmed by the request of the PNP in Calbayog City for a list of lawyers who are representing “Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) personalities” in court.
“This kind of action is unbecoming of a police officer; transcends all legal and statutory basis; and threatens the legal profession by failing to appreciate the role of lawyers in upholding the people's Constitutional rights,” the CHR said.
It said the “right to an independent counsel of an accused, preferably of their own choice, is guaranteed by the Constitution, our laws, and the Rules of Court.”
“By targeting lawyers, the concerned police officer equally threatens the rule of law,” it said.
“It is also significantly concerning that such incident occurs when killings of lawyers remain at an all-time high and red-tagging remains to be a pervasive problem,” it added.
The CHR was referring to the letter sent last March 12 to the Calbayog City regional trial court (RTC) by P/Lt. Fernando Calabria Jr. of the city’s police intelligence division requesting a list of lawyers representing CTG members.
Calabria said in his letter that the request was in “compliance from higher PNP (Philippine National Police) offices regarding lawyers who represent Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) personalities in Court.”
Calabria has been sacked by the PNP. Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, PNP officer-in-charge, said what Calabria did was a blunder that compromised the good relationship between the police and the judiciary.
The CHR described as a “welcome move” the relief of Calabria to make way for an impartial probe.
It also “welcome the comment of Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra opposing and calling out the PNP for ‘any such activity if the same is in violation of existing laws or established policies, or unnecessarily endangers the security of certain classes of persons, most especially lawyers.’”
Guevarra, last March 13, admitted that “intelligence work is an essential part of law enforcement and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has no authority to interfere with this activity.”
But he assured that the Department of Justice (DOJ) “will oppose and call out any such activity if the same is in violation of existing laws or established policies, or unnecessarily endangers the security of certain classes of persons, most especially lawyers.”
He acknowledged that “lawyers are professionals and are not directly or personally involved in the causes that they represent.”
He pointed out that the issue on the request of the Calbayog City police for the list “is a matter for the court to resolve.”
The Supreme Court (SC) has yet to come out with a statement on the issue.