Rep. Jess Manalo to push for budgets of crime labs
The problem in situations such as this encounter between the police and the now dead mayor of Ozamiz City is we cannot base our analysis of what happened just on the say so of either side. Their statements will naturally oppose each other.
Aside from intense interrogation of both sides by impartial investigators, perhaps the National Bureau of Investigation, the National Police Commission, the Ombudsman, or the Commission on Human Rights, we need scientific evidence and unedited video of the actual police raid.
We need forensic investigation by either the PNP Crime Laboratory or the NBI forensic lab.
We have several investigative agencies and that in itself is a problem. In addition to the probe agencies aforementioned, we also have a Peoples Law Enforcement Board, from which we hardly hear any accomplishments or activities.
We need bodycam video on every police officer. Bodycam video they cannot switch off. Bodycam gadgets the police officer cannot take off lest they face immediate suspension without pay.
Absent these factors that can help us determine who are guilty and corrupt, how can any of us say who did what was right and just and proper in this police raid?
Having laid down the premises, I will file tomorrow morning a bill for a Body Cam Law.
As Member of the Committee on Appropriations, I will support reasonable adequate funding for the the crime labs of both the PNP and NBI.
As Member of the Committee on Public Order and Safety and the Committee on Illegal Drugs, I will also seek the counsel of legal luminaries on how to improve or make better sense of having all of these investigative bodies and overlaps.
Offhand, I see the need for a rationalized system for the impartial investigation of police raids, encounters involving the police or military or any other armed service.
I sense exasperation, disappointment, and confusion from the public on our having to many investigating agencies.
But I also sense a desire by that same public to trust the authorities. They simply want a system that makes sense and can conduct impartial, evidence-based investigations. (END)
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