Press Release
September 24, 2014

Transcript of Sen. Grace Poe's questions at the DILG budget hearing

On lifestyle check

Sen. Grace Poe: Kunwari may admin case ang isang police, na-demote siya o kaya ay pinaalis siya sa serbisyo o kaya binigyan siya ng kaparusahan. Mayroon ba kayong database na ang lahat ng presinto na paglilipatan ay mayroong nakatalang record ng file ng police na iyan. Central database ng human resource files?

Director Alexander Roldan (PNP Internal Affairs Services): We have a database of PNP personnel involved in administrative and criminal cases, ma'am. In their records, we see to it na nailagay po yung administrative and criminal cases nila so when they are assigned, nakikita ito.

Poe: Hindi ba ninyo natunugan na may anomalya sa presinto ng La Loma dahil marami na ring kaso--admin cases na nadi-dismiss lang yung iba. Modus raw ng mga kasama natin. Tapos mismong si Sec. Roxas ang nagsabi na mayroong balita diumano, na mayroong quota system na nagbibigay sa lower ranking officers. Sa inyong imbestigasyon, mayroon bang ganoon? Kasi internal affairs kayo.

Roldan: Wala pong na-momonitor na ganoon na quota system. Although we continuously conduct investigation and intelligence gathering.

Poe: At least on record na ganoon. Sec. Roxas, sa nabanggit na mga nangyayari ngayon, lalo na nadadawit si Chief PNP sa mga question tungkol sa kanyang pamumuhay, gusto ko lang malaman, kasi iminungkahi ninyo na dapat magpa-lifestyle check, at ang nakuha ninyong partner dito ay ang BIR. Gusto ko lang malaman bakit di natin naisip ang internal affairs, at yung sinabi ninyong lifestyle check, nag-uumpisa na ba yan? Ano po ang deadline at ano po ang maaasahan natin?

Sec. Mar Roxas: Hindi po bago ang lifestyle check in the sense na lahat tayong kawani ng pamahalaan ay pumipirma ng SALN. Isang patakaran na ito na nandiyan na. Ang bago dito ay tulad nung nangyari sa BIR at BOC na magsisimula tayo ng programa na para sa PNP bilang tugon sa mga panawagan na tungkol sa mga scalawag na police at iba pa. Nakita na may kapangyarihan ang NAPOLCOM na siyang gagawa nitong pagtingin na ito. So ang NAPOLCOM at para madagdagan pa ang kredibilidad ay nakipag-ugnayan ako kay Commissioner Kim Henares at kay Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales. Mayroon nang PNP-OMB MOA pero medyo malambot at general masyado kaya nakipag-ugnayan ako kay Ombudsman Morales na pwede pa nating patalasin ito. Although mayroon siyang caveat na hanggang specific level lang sila dahil kung ano man ang mapatuklasan dito ay dadating din sa kanila. Ayaw nilang maging prosecutor and jury at the same time. Tutulong sila sa technical competence at capacity building, policy making, case by case basis. Pero bilang general rule, iniiwasan nila na sila ang mag-imbestiga dahil darating din sa kanila iyan. Yung MOA with BIR and OMB is being written down now. NAPOLCOM ay gumagawa ng procedure na gagawin, batay sa patakaran ng BIR mismo sa kanilang opisina at sa Dept. of Finance sa kanilang integrity in public service, it is going to be complaint-driven. Whether anonymous or rehistrado, aatasan itong bagong tanggapan na ito at titingnan yung SALN, BIR, LRA, LTO, titingnan lahat ito para makita kung ayon sa batas, kung may manifestly disproportionate--sa anti graft and corrupt practices yun. Titingnan iyan, kung kitang-kita ang laki ng agwat then ipapasa iyan sa Ombudsman or sa BIR. Ngayon kung patently minor, kasi judgment call, how do you say something is disproportionate or not, then it goes through a different process, but basically it will look into the complaints that were filed against specific officers.

Poe: Sir alam kong gusto mong maging maayos ang proseso, para hindi naman tayo mapagbintangan na nag-wiwitch hunt o kaya ay hindi natin ginagawang legal ang ating trabaho. Ang SALN ay napakadiretso po e. Nakalagay doon, makikita mo naman kung manifestly disproportionate. Halimbawa, wala akong kopya ng SALN pero doon sa napapareport, kung sinabi P2 million pero alam mo namang ilang ektarya iyan, e makikita mo na na hindi yon sa spike ng real estate market. Sa pagbuo kasi natin ng isang kinatawan na gagawa nito, baka nakakalimutan natin na mayroon naman tayong--kaya nga PNP ang trabaho nila ay mag-imbestiga, baka naman po kayo na lang mismo, baka pwede ninyong sabihin na, imbestigahan na natin ito ngayon.

I share your frustration sir, but on the other hand, i know that you also have to make the appropriate recommendation to the President and I think that I know you feel accountable to the President and to the people, which I feel that in the case of the Chief PNP, with all of the controversy, totoo man o hindi ay kinakaladkad niya ang pangalan ng institusyon sa baba kasama niya. I have no authority to do this but kayo po bilang DILG, nandiyan na, may kaso na sa Ombudsman. Hindi ba pwedeng matulungan na para mag-imbestiga, kunin ang NAPOLCOM, madali lang po iyan. Kung ang utang ng sasakyan, 3 years ago ay P1.5 million at nananatiling P1.5 million ngayon. O ang isang kotse na ang value nga ay P7 million at nakalagay pa rin na P1.5 million ang halaga. O ang isang bahay na P3 million pero alam namang ilang ektarya. Sa tingin ko doon pa lang ay makikita natin na may malisya at hindi lamang pagkakamali sa paglista.

Hindi ba pwedeng gawin na, o sige bumuo tayo ng ganito for the long term pero ngayon, NAPOLCOM, umpisahan na natin ito. Dahil ang liderato at mismong PNP ang nalalagay sa alanganin. Mayroon kayong kapangyarihan na magrekomenda sa pangulo, kung sa tingin ninyo ay makakasama ito sa kabuuan so tatanungin ko kayo sir, sa inyo bang pananaw ngayon, ano po ang marerekomenda ninyo sa Pangulo ukol sa liderato ng PNP?

Roxas: Maselan na bagay ito, kung mamarapatin ninyo hindi ko po gustong lumalim masyado ang ating pag-uusap dahil wala naman po dito yung tao. Alam ko po na kayo ay isang fair na tao, at hindi ninyo gusto na mapasawalang proseso at dapat nasa tamang proseso ang bagay na ito. Ang punto po dito ay talagang nandiyan na iyan at dadating at dadating sa katotohanan itong proseso na ito. Sa ganoong paraan ay makakakilos ng tama ang pamunuan. It is being investigated by the Ombudsman, as a courtesy, wala rito yung tao.

Poe: I am sorry but we've extended him so much courtesy already, and he's sending a representative who should be able to answer for him and that's the reason I think why he assigned you, Dir. Rojas. But Sec. Roxas, I understand your situation, because there are certain situations wherein you have to discuss this with the President in confidentiality. In this particular case, I believe that a leader should have a purpose higher than himself, and all of us, I feel that it's unfair to the PNP especially to the others if the topmost person is not even available to defend the institution during the budget hearing or to be able to articulate to us what the institution needs even not for himself, for the people that he is leading. So I trust and I know also that you are very fair and that's why it's not very easy for us to make pronouncements but in light of the disparities listed in the SALNs, I think it shouldn't be too difficult if we really have the will to come up with a conclusion. I think this is your chance to prove that you are an independent body and you can conduct an investigation swiftly. This is one example for that

On white house

Poe: My other follow up question Mr. Chairman, is about the white house in the PNP. At first I didn't think much about it, because whatever structure we have in the PNP or in the government will be left there long after our term has expired. Even the National Museum Foundation, we accept donations, that's fine as long as it's transparent. So you're the head of DILG, you have the PNP under you, I'm sure you're privy to the situation of the white house. It's fine if it's restored but are you aware of who the donors are? Are you aware where the money was actually allocated, sir? And please tell us for the record the exact amount?

Roxas: Madam Chair, I am not aware of the specifics, I know in generality, the amount roughly is P20 million. The head of the agency, Dir. Gen. Purisima said that he will make a list of all the donors and we are awaiting that list.

Poe: So P20 million is the structure but P11 million was received in donations, is that correct?

Roxas: I think the P20 million is a number that has been brooded about madam senator. This appears to be an itemized...

Poe: More of a correction? We will appreciate that document, that very elusive document. One other thing that we discussed before is the feasibility study for a national emergency line. When you weren't here, Secretary and also the Chief PNP, he sent a representative that conducted a study apparently regarding this 911 like emergency. This is what they said, in their study, this is for national, they will have 10 seats, 10 call center agents to man the line that will run in the millions. That's all the information they gave us.

Our comment was, definitely it should run in the millions and second, 10 people to man phones for a 100 million, so I don't really think the Chief PNP has taken us seriously. A year has passed and apparently our emergency line is still run by a foundation. It's not really a government line. So instead of actually trying to rely on the proactive stand of the PNP, we thought it best now to submit a bill, to legislate. To impose on them really, the need to be able to establish such a line. So I would like to ask sir, if with your guidance, you'll be able to support because we're still going to ask for their inputs for a technical study of this, have you come across any studies, sir?

On the proposed 911 national emergency hotline

Roxas: Yes ma'am. Thank you very much for that opportunity. First of all we support such an initiative, whether thru legislation and maybe we're a little bit slow but our office is also looking into this. One of the studies that I saw was on this 117, the existing 117. Which is a joint venture between the private sector and the PNP. Basically, the PNP mans the desk and the equipment is provided by the private sector.

90-plus percent of the calls, and it could be a hyperbole but it was pretty close to 90 as I recall, are prank calls. Directory assistance, jokes, call and hang up, and so on and so forth. So it's not a very effective tool. And then you have the phenomenon of LGUs coming up with their own emergency hotline, which is good in of itself but not as effective as we would want it to be. Some with more money are able to devote more resources, others with less, it's a little bit sort of not very developed. So we would welcome a national hotline.

And these are some of the things, if we're talking about potential legislations, one of our recommendations would be, and we'll be working with phone companies on this, is to make it possible to use 911. Because particularly for the tourists, we have 5 million tourists coming in. We have domestic tourists that go from one province to another, it should not be that we will require our tourists to remember a different number, if you're in Boracay versus a different number if you're in Samal versus a different number in other places. So then it just happens to be that 911 is the international sort of emergency number, so that's why we're advocating 911.

There's a small problem that's actually a big problem, because there are regular telephone numbers that are 911. For example if you want pizza, you dial 911-11-11 and there are other telephone numbers that are 911. That is why. I've been actually in communication with PLDT, mainly PLDT because they're the ones with the landline system, on what will it take to change the 911 numbers into something else? So that's one of our recommendations, to make it one number, that is internationally known, particularly for the tourists, both domestically and foreign and to have it common, that's first. The second is to outsource the technical side. Government is not very good in maintaining the latest, relative to the technologies, so I think you can have 3 year contracts, 5 year contracts, to have, in effect to set up the skeleton of the call center. Because they're basically just modules and screens and so on and so forth but they can be manned by PNP or fire departments or as appropriate. In effect, the equipment is maintained and purchased by the outsourced or the private sector. That way if it's broken, change it and put something new and so on and so forth. Basically that's what it is. And the third, would be the TELCO or the ICT infrastructure that would then download the information to the appropriate precinct or station. Those are the 3 things that we would encourage with whatever legislation that could be.

Poe: In essence, what you're saying is like a call center and the problem with 911 is the prefix problem that is already being used. But I understand that it is also a promotion, also the mind-set of the public with regard to why they're doing prank calls is basically they have no confidence about the line. They don't think that it's actually working. But when we have a public service reminder later on when we have this fully implemented, I'm sure and also part of the capability is they should be able to trace the call. I don't know if this could be done but I know call centers, they can tell if you're calling from Minnesota or you're calling from wherever. We should be able to look into that possibility but the important thing is, if not 911 because it will be a technical nightmare, we could also do what Australia does which is 00 for example. But that is another thing, 0 is an operator. But we can think of another country line, just promote it. And in the airport have that sign already when they come in, this is the national emergency line. In Thailand, they have two, one for locals and one for tourists because unfortunately for them, unlike us, they don't really speak English, the majority of them wouldn't, but their tourists would need an English speaking operator.

Roxas: We support that and agree to the general direction.

On administrative leave

Poe: I think also when there is a national scope in terms of responding to the needs of the public, then there will also be a different mindset among the PNP, that they are connected to a central database that they can be commanded to do certain tasks, even remotely. So they know that they are accountable to certain group or figure.

That's why sir, I guess, before I end my line of questioning, I'd like to go back again to my appeal to you, being the head of the DILG and I think that personally I know what you probably think about the situation, but as always you remain prudent, to make the strong recommendation to the president about the importance also, the confidence and the trust of the ones being led by the Chief PNP and that I think that the institution itself is worth saving in terms of the morale of the police officers. So I hope that at the very least, without saying that anybody is guilty, administrative leave will send a good message, just like there are certain senators here who have to be suspended so that they don't influence their office while their trial is going on. These are a few of the things that crosses my mind at the moment, Thank you Mr. Chair.

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