The promotion of Metro Manila police chief Major General Debold Sinas early this month to the top position of the Philippine National Police (PNP) mirrors the Duterte administration’s disregard for the rules and its high regard for loyalty.
Sinas came under heavy criticism last May for holding a “mañanita” (pre-dawn party) to celebrate his birthday, in the midst of the strictest quarantine restrictions due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. But nearly seven months later, Sinas has seemingly not only been forgiven by President Rodrigo Duterte but was also rewarded with the promotion.
The promotion was actually an accommodation to Sinas, who will be reaching the mandatory retirement age in May 2021 when he turns 56.
When he was director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) in March, Sinas ordered his men to arrest those who would turn unruly in resisting the enhanced community quarantine, the same rules he violated two months later.
Now that he is chief of the PNP, the “mañanita” episode would always haunt him when he comes across law breakers.
A couple of days ago, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra warned that anybody sharing “malicious” claims about error-laden learning materials supposedly printed by the Department of Education (DepEd) may face criminal charges like cyberlibel.
At the same time, Dante Jimenez, chairman of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), was reported to have assured due process for public officials under investigation for alleged irregularities.
By due process he meant that accused government officials would be properly notified of the complaint against them before their names are released to the public, and allegations of corruption need to be substantiated.
On its face, nothing seems to be wrong in Jimenez’s public pronouncement. But given reports on how ordinary people are accosted and detained by law enforcers over petty accusations, you’d wish that the promise of due process would apply to all. Yes, PACC investigates only public officials, but it can send a powerful message that those holding positions have higher accountability and must be held liable even for minor infractions.
Guevarra’s warning, on the other hand, was in response to a request of Education Secretary Leonor Briones for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to identify people who maliciously blamed the DepEd for publishing self-learning modules that contained errors.
Photos of some of the modules with spelling and grammatical errors have gone viral on social media.
One of the learning materials that drew flak from netizens involved a module for high school physical education subject that described actress Angel Locsin as an “obese person.” Other examples cited in posts that became viral on social media asked grade school students to draw 800 stars inside a small box while another described the color red as a shape.
Students use the modules produced by DepEd in the distance learning system that the government has adopted in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person classes are feared to result in a higher infection rate.
Briones said the modules in question were not published by the DepEd central office but by its division and regional units.
If that is the case, why not hold responsible those behind the erroneous modules instead of going after those who call out the DepEd for the mistakes? Passing on the blame to the regional and division units and threatening people who find either humor or disgust in the errors would not correct the problem. Besides, who would define what is malicious and what is not?
Regarding Sinas, he appears to be making up for his shortcomings in the past by showing an example to his men about the PNP’s anti-obesity campaign that he has revived. The newly promoted quarantine violator said he has been, in the past three months, following a diet and exercise regimen in a bid to combat obesity and possible comorbidities.
Because he has been doing it for himself, he wants all the rest in the PNP to share the miseries of losing weight, and so he said he has ordered the PNP Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine Development to revive the anti-obesity program.
Let’s see in a few months if Sinas has succeeded not only in losing weight but also in commanding respect for the law enforcers who, in many instances, have shown disregard for the laws they are supposed to implement.
Losing weight entails self-discipline, something that Sinas seemingly lacks.
And more than losing weight, he should work harder in ensuring that ordinary citizens are given due process and that police officers are protectors of the people, not violators of their rights. That is, if he wants to prove that he deserves the promotion, not only because of his loyalty to the president.
But can Sinas apprehend violators of quarantine protocols like Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr.?
Roque’s attention was called yet again over the weekend for tolerating a public gathering on Bantayan Island in Cebu without observing the physical distancing protocol. He later justified that the big crowd was unexpected and that it was all right for as long as the people wear masks.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to see Sinas castigating Roque for repeatedly breaking quarantine requirements that he has been asking the public to observe?
One policy that the Duterte administration consistently observes is rewarding loyalty to the chief, regardless of performance.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
This column also appeared in The Manila Times.
