KASAUP

The case of Pampanga, home province of President Macapagal-Arroyo


How the Philippine National Police violated
Republic Act No. 6975


R.A. 6975, otherwise known as “An Act Establishing the PNP under a Reorganized Department of the Interior and Local Government and for Other Purposes” enacted on December 13, 1990”, provides that provincial governors and city mayors have the authority to choose the provincial director and chief of police within their respective jurisdiction from a list of eligibles recommended by the PNP regional director [Section 51 (a) (1) and b (i) (4)].
Moreover, National Police Commission Resolution No. 2002-078 states that no placement, assignment, reassignment or promotion involving PNP senior officers to key positions shall be effected without personnel action passing through the Senior Officers Placement and Promotion Board (SOPPB).
In Pampanga, this is what happened:
June 23, 2007
Gov. Eddie Panlilio wrote then PNP Director General Oscar Calderon of his request to replace Senior Supt. Keith Singian. Even as an officer-in-charge, Singian has served as provincial police director since his appointment in January 2007. On even date, another letter of the same tenor was sent to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

August 10, 2007
Follow-up letter was sent to DG Calderon for the appointment of a new police director for Pampanga in order to ensure a stable peace and order condition and implement reforms.

August 29, 2007
National Police Commission issued Resolution 2007-339 [HEREIN REFERRED TO AS FIRST RESOLUTION] recommending Senior Superintendents Abner Dimabuyu, Cesar Hawthorne Binag and Keith Singian as Pampanga police director. This resolution is said to have been hidden and not transmitted by Chief Supt. Errol Pan, then the Central Luzon police director.
September 2007
Gov. Panlilio received an unofficial copy of the FIRST RESOLUTION endorsing a list of police officers as possible candidates for provincial director. Gov. Panlilio selected Col. Binag who is endorsed by Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and 30 Catholic bishops.

September 10, 2007
Gov. Panlilio wrote Gen. Pan of his choice for police director for Pampanga based on the list of nominees in the FIRST RESOLUTION.

September 24, 2007
Gov. Panlilio wrote again Gen. Pan of his choice for new police director for Pampanga and reiterated his authority stated under Section 51(a)(1) and (b)(i)(4) of R.A. 6975, copies of which were furnished to the President and DG Calderon.

October 4, 2007
Gov. Panlilio wrote DG Calderon informing him of his choice and the insistence of Gen. Pan to have Col. Singian appointed as police director for Pampanga. A copy of the letter was furnished to the President.
November 19, 2007
Gov. Panlilio went to Camp Crame for a meeting with new PNP chief DG Razon to reiterate his request for Col. Binag.
DG Razon withdrew the FIRST RESOLUTION, explaining that Col. Binag has to stay put as deputy chief of staff of the program management office handling the PNP transformation program. From here until April 2008, Gov. Panlilio made FOUR REQUESTS to have Col. Binag as provincial police director.
April 21, 2008
Gov. Panlilio wrote DG Razon to tell the latter that the FIRST RESOLUTION has not been officially transmitted to him and that his choice, Col. Binag, has not been heeded.

April 28, 2008
Gov. Panlilio wrote Gen. Pan to reiterate his previous request for the transmittal of the FIRST RESOLUTION of nominees, with copies furnished to the President, Secretary Puno and Gen. Razon.
May 2, 2008
Gov. Panlilio received an official copy Napolcom Resolution No. ____[HEREIN REFERRED TO AS SECOND RESOLUTION], this time containing this list of names: Senior Superintendents Enrico Salapong, Cristino Campanilla and Keith Singian. The names originated from Gen. Pan.

Gov. Panlilio informed Gen. Pan and Razon that none of the nominees is acceptable to him.

May 7, 2008
Gov. Panlilio wrote Gen. Razon to reiterate his request to have Col. Binag appointed as new police director for Pampanga. The governor told DG Razon of the moral transformation needed in Pampanga. “You are well aware that our province has been for years been known as the subservient host to illegal numbers game called jueteng. In view of that, we need morally upright men and women, both in the police force, the government and the civil society to fight against and repulse the evils brought about by jueteng.”
This letter to Gen. Razon was also sent to President Macapagal-Arroyo, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Gen Pan.
May 13, 2008
Gov. Panlilio received information that his choice, Col. Binag, a member of Class ’87, is 190th in the seniority lineal list (SLL) of the PNP.
Col. Singian, Gen. Pan’s pick, is 250th in the SLL even as he belongs to PMA Class ’83.
These standings debunked the claim of Gen. Pan that Singian was more senior.
In the SECOND RESOLUTION, the SOPBB listed Col. Singian (PMA ‘83), Col. Salapong (PMA ’81) and Col. Campanilla (PMA ’82). If Pan’s seniority rule based on PMA class was followed, why was he not considering Col. Salapong?
May 27, 2008
The Senate committee on local government, chaired by Sen. Benigno Aquino III, started hearing on the complaint of Gov. Panlilio about the PNP’s violations of his prerogative to select a provincial police director of his choice.
Sen. Aquino and Sen. Francis Escudero find irregularities in the PNP process of heeding the request of Gov. Panlilio, specifically the move to withdraw the first resolution, replacing that with another resolution and changing two nominees except for Col. Singian.
“The stint of Governor Panlilio will be almost one year but he has not yet exercised his right to choose his own provincial police director,” Sen. Aquino said.
“Hindi naman tama that after giving a list, the PNP chief would delete the name on the list,” Sen. Escudero said.
Director Edgardo Acuña, PNP chief for personnel and records, said the first resolution “got lost” due to administrative mis-coordination.” He said that when the resolution got to Gen. Pan, the latter asked for reconsideration, which led to Gen. Razon’s granting this because Col. Binag was “vital” in the PNP transformation program.
June 23, 2008
Gov. Panlilio filed a case of plunder against alleged jueteng lord Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda in relation to the conviction of ousted President Joseph Estrada for the same crime in September 2007. Mr. Pineda has never been charged, tried or convicted of the same crime although testimonies by witnesses identified him as among those who helped Mr. Estrada amassed ill-gotten wealth.
At least 69 of 86 members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines wrote a letter asking Ombudswoman Merceditas Gutierrez to “really attend to the merits” of the case. August 21, 2008
A new group, Kapanalig at Kambilan ning Memalen Pampanga Inc. (Kambilan) announced the launch of a recall petition against Gov. Panlilio for “loss of confidence.”

September 22, 2008
Gov. Panlilio wrote again DG Razon expressing his dismay for the continued disregard of his request to have Col. Singian replaced considering his incompetence and inefficiency. A copy of the letter was furnished to Sec. Puno.

September 29, 2008
Gov. Panlilio wrote newly PNP appointed Director General Jesus Verzosa and brought to his attention the long-staying OIC status of Col. Singian as well as his repeated requests for his replacement, a copy of which was also sent to Sec. Puno.
October 15, 2008
After gathering over 200,000 signatures in a span of two months, Kambilan filed recall petition against Gov. Panlilio. The governor’s lawyers filed a petition asking Comelec to junk the recall petition for lack of substance and form, and due to a pending recount case Mr. Pineda’s wife, losing gubernatorial bet Lilia Pineda.
January 5, 2009
More or less 70 truck owners and retrenched quarry workers stormed the offices of Gov. Panlilio and Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu as they demanded for a dialogue to discuss the anti-overloading ordinance. Col. Singian’s men did not stop or arrest them. Sacked quarry workers removed the streamers of the provincial capitol but were not reprimanded or arrested by Col. Singian’s men. Sacked quarry workers hit two visiting nephews of the governor but were not arrested by the police.
January 6, 2009
Gov. Panlilio asked Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to relieve Col. Singian for failing to stop the Jan. 5 siege and to arrest those involved in it.
January 8, 2009
Gov. Panlilio reiterated the request after Col. Singian denied that a siege was mounted at the capitol on Jan. 5.
January 9, 2009
Replying on behalf of Secretary Puno, Senior Supt. Armando Ramolete wrote Gov. Panlilio that his request for the relief of Col. Singian and finding a replacement for him has been referred to the SOPBB and the new police regional director, Chief Supt. Leon Nilo de la Cruz.
January 12, 2009
Napolcom Central Luzon Director Atty. Verulo Mapanao told Col. Singian in a letter: “Had the police officers enforced their authority over the rallyists and adopted reasonable measures to prevent them from performing unwarranted acts, they could not have succeeded in entering the offices of the above provincial officials, thereby, disrupting the peace and order of said place.”
Atty. Mapanao did not issue administrative sanctions on Col. Singian, only advising that “tighter monitoring on like activities is hereby enjoined to maintain peace and order, and to ensure that no one transgresses the law.”
On the same day, Col. Singian turns two years as OIC on the post. January 27, 2009
Napolcom issued Resolution 2009-018 [HEREIN REFERRED TO AS THIRD RESOLUTION] endorsing three police officers from which Gov. Panlilio can choose a provincial police director. On the list are Senior Superintendents George Gaddi, Sonny Cunanan and Danilo Bautista.
Like Resolution 2007-339 [FIRST], Resolution 2009-018 [THIRD] is not officially transmitted to Gov. Panlilio.

January 30, 2009
Gov. Panlilio wrote DG Verzosa requesting for the replacement of Col. Singian and the designation of PSSupt. Sonny Cunanan, one of the police officers indicated in the Napolcom resolution.
February 3, 2009
The Pampanga Mayors League, chaired by Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda, furnished Gov. Panlilio a copy of PML Resolution 2009-52 to recommend Senior Supt. Gil Lebin Jr. as provincial police director. Col. Lebin is an Ilonggo and a classmate of Col. Singian. February 10, 2009
Gen. De la Cruz returned copy of THIRD RESOLUTION to Gen. Verzosa.

February 12, 2009
Secretary Puno told Gov. Panlilio after the Galing Pook awarding in Malacańang that Napolcom decided to pull out Resolution 2009-018. Secretary Puno said Napolcom prefers to endorse a non-Kapampangan as provincial police director. Col. Singian is a Kapampangan. Why is that policy suddenly altered? Or does such a policy really exist?

From the foregoing, the following data are clear:

1. That at EVERY STEP of the way, President Macapagal-Arroyo and her alter-ego, Secretary Puno, and the PNP chief were properly informed by Gov. Panlilio of his requests to assign a new provincial police director in Pampanga. If requests are taken up in the echelons of power, why were the responses slow and nil?

2. That Gov. Panlilio made that request more than 18 TIMES and more than FOUR of those were made in person. If the frequency of the requests was seen as indications of persistence and urgency, and appreciated as done in behalf of public good, which was the governor’s intention, why the obvious dilly-dally, runaround and disregard for a duly-elected public official in the home province of the President?

3. That Napolcom issued three resolutions, each containing a list of nominees. These indicated that the SOPBB and the Napolcom for that matter went through the selection and endorsement processes. Why did they reverse or ditch the processes?

4. That the police regional directors took actions violative of the law and the right of Gov. Panlilio as a public official to select the provincial police director. They did not only fail to transmit the official copies. Gen. Pan hid the first resolution. Gen. De la Cruz returned the third resolution.

Gen. Pan gave the second resolution only because this still contained the name of his pet choice, Col. Singian.

Why did these regional police directors have the audacity to do their unlawful acts? From whom were they drawing their power to disregard the law?

5. Weak excuses were given to justify the withdrawals of the first and third resolutions. In the first, DG Razon said Col. Binag cannot be dispensed with because of the PNP transformation program. If the PNP cannot help in the moral transformation of Pampanga, where else can it succeed?

In the second, Secretary Puno said Napolcom will have to select a non-Kapampangan for the PNP provincial post. Why did the SOPBB or Napolcom not consider that qualification before, if such is indeed a requirement?

6. That Gov. Panlilio, after 20 months as the duly-elected governor of Pampanga, has not yet exercised his right to choose a provincial director per the mandate tasked on him under RA 6975.

Who was commanding all these machinations to render a duly-elected public official powerless to select a qualified, morally-upright provincial police director to help bring reforms to the so-called Vatican of jueteng in the Philippines?

7. Pampanga is the home province of President Macapagal-Arroyo. It is right in her backyard that the PNP transgresses the laws and makes a mockery of these. It is right in her backyard that Col. Singian has flaunted his undeserved, unwelcomed stint. It is not to Col. Singian’s credit that Pampanga was chosen best PNP provincial station in Central Luzon. That credit belongs to the toiling cops on the ground. Much has to be desired in the peace and order situation in Pampanga to support the clamors of local communities and business sector for a crime-free province.

Who benefited in all these? Indirectly or not, the jueteng lord. In the last 20 months, jueteng remains rampant in Pampanga, operating in the legal cover given to it by the national government itself through the small-town lottery (STL). Col. Singian operates in an entirely illusory scenario. Col. Singian thinks there is no jueteng in Pampanga. For him, what is being run on the ground is purely STL, no jueteng. There hardly is no truth to this.

The Pampanga case demonstrates a sickening, far-reaching problem in the country: DISRESPECT AND BLATANT DISREGARD FOR THE RULE OF LAW. When the rule of law is not upheld, public good and interests are sacrificed and so is the well-being and future of the poor who have already been rendered voiceless, powerless and further impoverished by deep-seated corruption in the government.

The 2010 elections is around the corner. If the PNP and other agencies bungled in the Pampanga case, how can the same institutions be relied upon to ensure peace and order in ordinary times and to remove the conditions for fraudulent elections in the country?