President Rodrigo Duterte warned local chief executives that they may be held accountable for “dereliction of duty” under the Revised Penal Code (RPC) if they fail to “enforce the law” within their jurisdictions.
This needs context.
STATEMENT
In a televised nationwide address on April 28, the president, who blamed the rise of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases on violators of quarantine and safety protocols, told local government officials:
“I will hold responsible and I will direct the secretary of the … DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government), to hold the mayors and responsible (sic) for these kind[s] of events happening in their places. It is a violation of the law and if you do not enforce the law, there is a dereliction of duty which is punishable under the Revised Penal Code.”
Source: Presidential Communications Operations Office, Talk to the People of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), April 28, 2021, watch from 12:22 to 12:59
Threatening to go after erring local officials both “administratively and criminally,” Duterte added:
“… so the DILG can proceed against you for not doing your duty as mayor or as a barangay captain, but not so much about the mayor.”
Source: watch from 13:00 to 13:11
FACT
Section 208 of the RPC covers only “any public officer or officer of the law” who “maliciously refrain[s] from instituting the prosecution” of law violators or “tolerate[s] the commission of offenses.”
Lawyer Joel Butuyan, president of the Center for International Law (CenterLaw), told VERA Files Fact Check in an email interview that it would be the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991, the Administrative Code of 1987, and/or other laws specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than the RPC, that “will be applied” to local chief executives, such as mayors or barangay chairpersons.
Under the LGC, both city and municipal mayors are obligated to “exercise supervision and control over all programs, projects, services, and activities,” and “enforce all laws and ordinances relative to the governance” of their respective jurisdictions.
Likewise, barangay chairpersons, under Section 389, are mandated to “enforce all laws and ordinances … applicable within the barangay” and to “maintain public order,” among other duties.
Mayors and barangay chairpersons must also “ensure the delivery of basic services” to their constituents, including those pertaining to health and social welfare.
As stated in the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR), the president, as the designated “disciplining authority,” is mandated to act upon “duly verified” administrative complaints against elective local officials on various offenses, including dereliction of duty.
Rule 11 of the IRR empowers the president, who may act through the executive secretary, to suspend or remove local officials found guilty of specified offenses, “depending on the evidence presented and the aggravating or mitigating circumstances.” The officials may also be ordered removed by a “proper court.”
Once removed from office as a result of an administrative investigation, the official will no longer be allowed to run for any elective position.
Under the Administrative Code, the president has the power, with the assistance of the DILG, to “exercise general supervision over local governments.” However, it does not go into detail about the obligations of local chief executives.
On the other hand, the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act (Bayanihan Act 1) — enacted on March 24, 2020 specifically to address the COVID-19 pandemic — states that local officials found to have “disobey[ed] national government policies or directives in imposing quarantine” will be subject to two months of imprisonment and/or a fine ranging from P10,000 to P1 million.
However, Bayanihan Act 1 has since been repealed following the enactment of Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (Bayanihan Act 2) on Sept. 11, 2020.
On May 5, a week following Duterte’s remarks, the DILG released a memorandum circular directing all local government units (LGU) to implement the guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on prohibiting or limiting public and mass gatherings amid the ongoing pandemic. It also directed local chief executives to “ensure the implementation of all policies relative to the curtailment of the spread of COVID-19.”
The president again gave notice during a televised address on May 10 that barangay officials “will be held liable for the failure of implementing the law in [their] territory.” This followed the May 9 incident in which about 300 people were reported swimming at the Gubat sa Ciudad Resort in Caloocan City, in violation of the minimum public health standards and quarantine protocols.
Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said during the same public address that the chairperson of Caloocan’s Barangay 171, where the resort was located, has since been apprehended for failing to enforce “community health protocol[s] especially on mass gathering.” The police have also filed cases against quarantine violators photographed at the venue, as well as the resort owner, according to Año.
Editor’s note: Butuyan is a trustee of VERA Files.
Sources
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Revised Penal Code, Dec. 8, 1930
Presidential Communications Operations Office, Talk to the People of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), April 28, 2021
Human Rights: Contemporaneous Strategies and Future Pathways Conference, Atty. Joel Butuyan, Accessed April 28, 2021
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Local Government Code of 1991, Oct. 10, 1991
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Administrative Code of 1987, Oct. 10, 1991
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Administrative Order No. 23, s. 1992, Dec. 17, 1992
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Executive Order No. 292 [BOOK IV/Title XII/Chapter 1-General Provisions], July 25, 1987
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Bayanihan to Heal As One Act (Bayanihan Act 1), March 24, 2020
Official Gazette of the Philippines, Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (Bayanihan Act 2), March 24, 2020
Department of Interior and Local Government, Memorandum Circular No. 2021-050, May 5, 2021
RTVMalacañang Official Facebook Page, Kumusta Po Mahal Kong Kababayan | Meeting on COVID-19 Concerns and Talk to the People on COVID-19 Davao City May 10, 2021, May 10, 2021
ABS-CBN News, Caloocan barangay chairman arrested over Gubat sa Ciudad Resort incident, May 10, 2021
CNN Philippines, Caloocan official faces raps for illegal resort operation, May 11, 2021
Business Mirror, Gubat sa Ciudad owners, barangay head likely to face charges, PNP chief assures, May 10, 2021
Presidential Communications Operations Office, Transcript: TALK TO THE PEOPLE OF PRESIDENT RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE ON CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19), May 10, 2021
(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)
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