The gruesome murders of mother and son Sonya and Frank Anthony Gregorio should not be treated as an “isolated case”, but rather a “symptom of an institutional ill”, Muntinlupa Representative Ruffy Biazon said.
He made this remark following the statement of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) regarding the two grave offenses served to Police Senior Master Sergeant (PSMS) Jonel Nuezca last Sunday.
Prior to this incident, Nuezca had already committed at least 6 administrative offenses, most of which were dismissed for lack of evidence.
“This may be indicative of reforms that should be done in police procedures to ensure that evidence during police operations is gathered in order to establish innocence or probable cause for a case to stand trial,” Biazon said.
“It may be the methodology and/or curriculum of training, their monitoring of the skills, mental health and discipline, or their standard operating procedures or protocols and they should perform an honest to goodness evaluation followed by a determination of the specific reforms they need to do to address the problem,” he added.
“If in their evaluation and identification of reforms specific solutions requiring legislation is needed, then we are ready to pursue such legislation. Another approach is for Congress to conduct an inquiry to make that evaluation,” he continued.
Nuezca amassed public outrage when a footage of him gunning down his recent victims went viral last week. Since then, he has turned himself in and has been charged with two counts of murder.
Citing House Bill No. 32, or the Body Camera Act, the investigation on guilty public officials will no longer be difficult as it could provide sufficient evidence.
The measure states that body cameras shall not be deactivated unless the operation has ended, or the law officer has left the scene. It will also require three years storage and archive of video footages from the time it was recorded.
“Although it took years of reluctance and even a procurement corruption controversy before the PNP decided to implement the use of bodycams, we now look forward to police operations where any abuse of law enforcement will have video recorded evidence, which can be used to hold erring policemen accountable,” Biazon shared.
“On the other hand, false accusations against law enforcers will be easily disproved as the recordings from cameras worn by the police personnel will show the step-by-step actions they take in operations,” he ended.
Photo Credit: Facebook/Congressman Ruffy Biazon
