By MARTIN SADONGDONG
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde ordered yesterday his 190,000-strong men to avoid using the term “tambay” amid criticisms on the crackdown against violators of local ordinances.
“Pinagbawal na natin sa kanila ‘yung paggamit ng tambay na word. Sabi nga natin there is no violation because of tambay. Ito ay nahuli because they are violating city ordinances not because they are tambays,” Albayalde told reporters at Camp Crame Monday afternoon.
Instead, Albayalde said cops must use the term “violators of city or local ordinances” in order to clearly show that the ones being arrested are law breakers.
With this, Albayalde hopes that misconceptions on the intensified campaign against violators will already be cleared and allegations of human rights abuses will no longer be used against them.
“Wala na pong dapat ikatakot dahil nakita ng ating mga kababayan, zero tolerance tayo sa mga pang-aabuso ng iba kung talagang makita naman natin na ‘yung mga pulis natin ay may ginawang pang-aabuso. Kung natatakot sila na magsumbong sa local police, pumunta sila sa regional headquarters o dito sa national headquarters,” he added.
Furthermore, Albayalde said that the guidelines regarding the intensified implementation of city ordinances were already released although they have yet to provide a copy to the media.
He said the guideline on the crackdown against violators of local ordinances was anchored on the Police Operational Procedure included in the revised PNP Manual which was released in December 2013. He said among the provisions included in the guidelines is the “paramount” consideration to rights of arrested persons and the rule of law.
Aside from the guideline, he said the commanders on the ground will have to supervise their own personnel to avoid wrongful arrests and mistakes in the crackdown on local ordinance violators.
