Press Release
January 31, 2007

INDEPENDENT COMMISSION PROPOSED BY PIMENTEL
TO PROBE COMPLAINTS AGAINST COPS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today proposed the creation of an Independent Police Control Commission (IPCC) that will investigate complaints against officers and members of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Pimentel filed Senate Bill 2579 which empowers the IPCC to determine, investigate and adjudicate administrative cases involving serious misconduct, torture and abuse committed by any police officer or member.

The creation of an independent police commission to investigate and adjudicate administrative cases filed against members of the PNP, most especially those involving human rights violations, committed against ordinary civilians would probably deter the abuses, corruption and other anomalies perpetuated by police officers, he said.

Under the present organizational structure of the PNP, the investigation of complaints against policemen is vested upon an administrative machinery which is composed of investigators and adjudicators from within the ranks of the PNP.

Such a scenario compromises the constitutional guarantee of the cold impartiality of a neutral judge, which is assured in all adversarial proceedings, Pimentel said.

In seeking the establishment of the IPCC, he cited a report of the United States State Department that tagged the PNP as one of the worst human rights violators in the country.

The State Departments Country Reports on Human Rights Practices said that the Philippine National Police has deep-rooted institutional deficiencies and suffers from a widely-held and accurate public perception that it is corrupt.

To ensure the independence of the IPCC, Pimentel proposed that the Commission shall be purely civilian in character and its top officials shall not have been actively engaged in any police military service at anytime. Also they should not have been candidates for any elective position in the immediately preceding national or local election.

The IPCC shall be composed of a chairperson and two commissioners, one of whom must be a woman. They shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines, at least 40 years of age, of proven probity and integrity and must have been actively involved in human rights protection and promotion activities for at least 10 years.

The chairperson and commissioners shall be chosen from a list of nominees submitted by a selection committee composed of representatives of the Commission on Human Rights and non-government organizations engaged in the protection of human rights.

The chairperson and commissioners of the IPCC shall be appointed by the President for a term of seven years without reappointment.

The following may file a complaint with the Commission:

1. Any person who has been a victim of an act of abuse, serious misconduct or torture committed by any member of the PNP, and

2. any person who was present when the alleged act of abuse, serious misconduct or torture took place or any person who has probable cause to believe, based on personal knowledge of the facts or circumstances that an act of abuse, serious misconduct or torture has been committed.

The administrative proceeding shall be conducted by the IPCC without prejudice to the filing of any civil or criminal complaint against any PNP member before the Regional Trial Court or the Sandiganbayan, as the case may be.

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