Embattled Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Dionardo Carlos has found a defender in Duterte Youth Party-list Rep. Marie Cardema.
As far as Cardema is concerned, there was nothing wrong with Carlos's attempt to use a PNP chopper to fetch himself from the luxurious Balesin Island resort, from which he had been "stranded" in over the weekend.
"He was stranded in Balesin Island and wanted to report for duty in Camp Crame on a Monday morning. Under the rules and regulations of the PNP, he is entitled to the use of the PNP helicopter," the young congresswoman said in a statement Wednesday, Feb. 23.
Cardema added that Carlos is the police chief "24 hours a day, seven days a week".
She stressed, "Nothing irregular about it, only the malice being hurled by the leftist party-list Gabriela.”
Cardema was referring to a statement made earlier in the day her House colleague, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas. Brosas had branded Carlos's tapping of the chopper's services as an "abuse" of his power as PNP head honcho.
The helicopter crashed on its way to balesin, causing the death of a police officer.
This notwithstanding, Cardema, a vice chairperson of the House National Defense and Security Committee, had something to say about Gabriela and the rest of the militant Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives.
“Accidents always happen, we in Congress convey our deepest sympathies to the policeman who died in the crash and wishing the pilot officers a fast recovery. I am just wondering why Gabriela and the other leftist party-lists are not very vocal also when our policemen and soldiers are being attacked and killed by the NPA (New People’s Army) in a monthly even weekly basis," the Duterte Youth solon said, as if trying to touch a raw nerve.
The New People’s Army is the military unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Members of the CPP-NPA have been tagged as terrorists by the Duterte administration.