Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday, August 15 renewed his call for lawmakers to expedite the passage of the bill mandating the use of body cameras during anti-illegal drug and other anti-crime operations.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian (Senate PRIB Photo)

The senator said he finds it extremely unacceptable that 17-year-old Jemboy Baltazar would die due to mistaken identity in the hands of the Navotas police, saying erring officials should be dealt with the full force of the law.

Gatchalian, who filed Senate Bill No. 1057 or the Police On-Body Cam Act, slammed a revelation from Navotas City Police chief Col. Allan Umipig of the Northern Police District (NPD) that the policemen involved in the incident did not use body-worn cameras during the operations that took the victim’s life.

The bill, the senator said, requires law enforcers, particularly members of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and other law enforcement agents, to use on-body cameras.

The measure also mandates law enforcement agencies to establish protocols and stringent standards for the responsible and effective use of these body cameras, which shall be turned on and left running until the operations have been completed.

“The function of the on-body camera will be two-pronged: protect the public against police misconduct by improving law enforcement accountability and help protect our policemen from false and uncorroborated accusations of abuse,” Gatchalian said.

“Hindi katanggap-tanggap na napagkamalan na ngang kriminal ang isang inosenteng bata, hindi pa sumunod sa panuntunan ang mga sangkot na pulis (It’s unacceptable that an innocent child was mistaken to be the criminal; the cops involved are not adhering to the proper protocols),” he pointed out.

“Nakakalungkot at nakakagalit na may isang buhay ang nawala, may pamilyang naulila, at may pangarap na nagwakas dahil sa pagkakamali sa operasyon ng mismong inaasahan nating nagtatanggol sa atin (It is sad and infuriating that a life has been lost, a family has been orphaned, and a dream has ended because of an error in an operation of the very thing that we hope would protect us),” he lamented.

Gatchalian vowed to continuously push for the measure to be enacted into law.

“Patuloy nating isusulong na maging batas ang pagsusuot ng mga pulis ng body-worn cameras sa kanilang mga operasyon (We will continue to advocate for the police to wear body-worn cameras in their operations to become a law),” the senator said.

“Sa ganitong paraan, mababantayan natin kung patas at makatarungan ang mga operasyon ng mga alagad ng batas (In this way, we can monitor if the operations of the law enforcement officers are fair and just),” he reiterated.