PNP comes up with operational guidelines for personnel’s observance of human rights

By Ronron
February 5, 2008

The Philippine National Police (PNP) will submit today (Wednesday) to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo an operational guideline on how its personnel should behave to avoid violation of human rights, its chief said yesterday (Tuesday).

Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said this is part of the PNP’s compliance to the directive of Arroyo for him to hopefully leave a legacy on human rights protection before he retires in September this year. Arroyo issued the instruction during Razon’s assumption to the top PNP post on October 1 last year.

The presentation of the operational guidelines will be done on the occasion of the PNP’s 17th founding anniversary at Camp Crame, Quezon Cith which will be graced by Arroyo.

“We have complied with her instruction that human rights is a priority program that the PNP is undertaking. We will give her our operational procedures regarding the observance of human rights and this will be sort of a bible of our personnel in following the observance of human rights,” Razon told reporters in an interview.

PNP Human Rights Affairs Office chief Sr. Supt. Lina Sarmiento said the guidelines will be contained in a Citizen’s Handbook, which will actually cater also to the public.

“This actually guides the citizens on what to do during police operations like when they are arrested, when their properties are being searched, or when they are being investigated. It’s like a flip side of the Police Operational Procedures,” Sarmiento said in a separate interview.

The handbook also contains directory of pertinent PNP units or offices where the public can report if policemen violate their rights, she added.

At the same time, the PNP launched yesterday its tie up with the Commission on Human Rights and other agencies “to strengthen the PNP’s observance of human rights.”

Asked if this would mean that violent dispersals by police of mass demonstrators like what happened last week at the Manila Hotel will no longer happen, Razon said: “That’s it. We will really ingrain in our personnel the due observance of basic rights of the citizenry, the human rights of persons.”

Last year, the PNP resolved over 100 cases of perceived human rights violations committed by its personnel all over the country, disclosed Sarmiento.

This resulted to the dismissal of 70 personnel, she said.

But Sarmiento said the nature of the cases are actually based on the existing laws such as simple misconduct, grave misconduct and irregularity in the performance of duty, because there is no clear law yet on human rights.

“It’s part now of our program that we should be able to identify which of these categories are actual human rights violations because there is no Human Rights law yet in the Philippines, unlike in other countries. So our basis is just the Constitution, the Bill of Rights… So one of programs is to come up with a glossary of specific human rights violations,” she said.

The PNP’s theme for today’s celebration goes: “Mamang Pulis: Tagapagtaguyod ng Karapatang Pantao Tungo sa Kapanatagan ng Mamamayan (Mr. Cop: Advocate of Human Rights for a Worry-less Citizenry).”/DMS