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By Ilang-Ilang Quijano
Correspondent
The police officers who took part
in the assault on the Iloilo provincial capitol will receive awards,
not sanctions, a Senate inquiry was told Thursday.
The regional police chief, Supt.
Wilfredo Dulay Sr., told the Senate Committee on Public Order and
Illegal Drugs that the 247 officers that stormed the capitol to
enforce the dismissal order against Gov. Neil Tupas Sr. of Iloilo on
January 17 would be recommended for medals and promotions.
Dulay’s statement prompted Sen.
Franklin Drilon, the committee chairman, to remark, “So they will
be given medals for pointing armalites at unarmed civilians?”
The raid on the capitol has
sparked an uproar after television footage showed the police
smashing glass walls and pointing rifles at unarmed civilians.
During the Senate hearing, Niel
Tupas Jr., the governor’s son and provincial board member,
identified members of the police Regional Mobile Group that assailed
and threatened to kill him and his family.
The younger Tupas said criminal
and administrative charges would be filed against the officers.
Dulay said he was angered by the
way his men carried out his orders, but said it was their judgment
call.
“I was very happy to be able to
perform my duty without bloodshed,” he said.
Drilon said Dulay cannot evade
command responsibility for the assault.
The older Tupas also said that in
a phone call 10 minutes before the police raided the capitol, Dulay
ordered him to leave his office because he was “being pressured”
to carry out orders.
Talking to reporters after the
hearing, Drilon said the forcible removal of Tupas was obviously
made at the insistence of certain high government officials,
apparently referring to Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez and
President Arroyo.
Tupas Sr. earlier accused the
Arroyo administration of persecuting him after he sided with the
opposition faction of the Liberal Party led by Drilon. He has also
said that Gonzalez was seeking the gubernatorial seat in the
province and would benefit from his removal in office.
Tupas told the hearing the police
assault was “a horrible and shocking attack on our democratic
institutions.”
Interior and Local Government (DILG)
Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez failed
to show up at the hearing.
In a letter to Drilon, Puno said
the Office of the President has not granted him permission to appear
at the investigation.
Gutierrez, on the other hand,
wrote Drilon to say her office had nothing to do with the
implementation of the decision to remove the Iloilo governor.
She also debunked Drilon’s
claim that the Office of the Ombudsman does not have the power to
dismiss local officials without a court order.
“The immediate execution of the
decisions of the Office of the Ombudsman is similar to, or
consistent with, the rule on immediate execution of the decisions of
the Civil Service Commission, and the current rule governing
execution of decisions in the regular courts,” Gutierrez stated.
Drilon said the committee has
enough testimonies to come up with a recommendation, despite the
no-show of Puno and Gutierrez.
The Court of Appeals has issued a
60-day temporary restraining order against the enforcement of the
dismissal order against Governor Tupas.
The Office of the Ombudsman has
charged Tupas with grave misconduct for illegally disbursing P85,000
to the Provincial Board Members’ League of the Philippines in
2004.
In her letter to Drilon, Gutierrez
also said that she has created a task force to investigate
allegations that police used excessive force in implementing the
dismissal order.
The police withdrew only after
Tupas received a copy of the temporary restraining order issued by
the Court of Appeals’ 19th Division in Cebu City.
--With Jomar Canlas
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