I have been a staunch supporter of the anti-crime programs of the DILG-PNP and its success in jailing hardened criminals and the like since I started covering the defunct PC/INP in 1989 and the PNP in 1991.

I have been a witness too to tens of thousands of arrested persons-the so-called Persons Under Police Custody-being paraded before the media triggering countless complaints of ‘trial of publicity’ until the practice was literally stopped by the PNP leadership in 2008.

However, I’m posing the question above amid the ‘renewed presentation’ of arrested lawbreakers before the media by DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos despite the 2008 PNP Memorandum Circular which effectively barred the ‘parading’ of suspected criminals before the press. It’s also ironic since PBBM has put a premium on human rights policing leading to a very few drug-related deaths since 2022 compared to the records of the previous PRRD administration.

On June 11, 2013, then PNP chief General Oscar Albayalde told us that they have decided to follow a Memorandum Circular approved by former PNP chief Gen. Jess Verzosa on October 7, 2008 that prohibits putting PUPCs in their orange shirts in front of a ‘firing line’ of newsmen.

That day actually saw the police leadership ending the long years of publicly shaming accused lawbreakers. “The presentation of the suspects to the media is not only violative of their constitutional rights of presumption of innocence, but also their human rights subjecting them to unwanted publicity,” the 2008 PNP memorandum said.

That circular also said that ‘presenting the accused “besmirch[es] their name and reputation including that of their family before guilt is proven.” It even pointed out Section 14 of the Bill of Rights which states that “no person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law’ and that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial.”

However, it is widely known that the circular was not fully enforced by the PNP leadership. During the 1st year of the former Duterte administration, ‘parading’ drug personalities and even suspected rogues in uniform even at the Presidential Palace became a norm.

As the old saying goes, ‘it’s like being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea’ as the police force have to choose between two equally unpleasant courses of action. This as officers try to balance between the right of the public to information and the right of the arrested suspect to an impartial trial and his/her right against a degrading detention and presentation before the press.

The PNP memorandum says that PNP officers who violate the policy will face the charge of “less grave neglect of duty”, which may lead to suspension or demotion, and after repeated offenses, even dismissal from the police service.

The PNP Human Rights Affairs Office also had said that policemen who present suspects may face criminal charges for violation of Republic Act 9745 which penalizes ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ of a crime suspect.

Many veteran police investigators agree with me that showing the faces of arrested prime suspects help them find more witnesses and victims of the paraded PUPC. However, human rights advocates, lawyers and families of the suspects usually complain what will authorities and the press do in case the cases against the suspects are dismissed by the prosecutor’s office or by the courts.

The practice became a common fare in the 80s, the 90s and the early 2000 until the DILG-PNP leadership during the former Macapagal-Arroyo administration put a stop on it saying police are no longer allowed to present crime suspects to the public without their or their lawyers’ consent.

The simple reason given behind the policy is that the police wants to avoid possible accusations of human rights violations. Then DILG chief Mar Roxas even said that ‘we need to balance the right of the public to know alongside the rights of the accused.”

Roxas said then that the police had been discussed with then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima with the guidelines finalized in consultation with the DOJ, the PNP, the NBI and the Commission on Human Rights. He even declared that PUPCs will eventually be presented to the public during inquest and other legal public proceedings.

This may also be one of the reasons why police in their press releases nowadays don’t mention the real names of the PUPCs and instead give them aliases while their photos are also blurred.

In this regard, may we hear from the DILG leadership which has allowed the presentation of arrested suspects in major crimes in many occasions since 2022. I really would like to put on record that I am a major supporter of Sec. Abalos and the PNP leadership in their quest to arrest criminality in the country and bring justice to all.

However, if the PNP memorandum circular has really been repealed by the DILG, may I kindly request that the ‘paraded suspects’ be quickly herded out of the presscon area before journalists start asking questions.

Last Thursday, I was present when the name of the 1st reporter to ask the question was announced over the microphone right in the presence of the four accused policemen who were still in the front row.

This is the least the DILG leadership can do. Just remember that a handcuffed suspect being ‘paraded’ before the press will always remember the names and faces of journalists digging deep into their background. That’s a real scary thing.