Perez to head anti-crime superbody

It will be Justice Secretary Hernando Perez instead of Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo who will head the new anti-crime "superbody" to be called the National Anti-Crime Commission (NACC), President Arroyo announced yesterday.

The President said an executive order (EO) is being drafted to form the NACC which will coordinate the anti-crime efforts of all law enforcement agencies.

Last week the Palace announced that the NACC would be headed by Romulo, but Mrs. Arroyo announced during her weekly Cabinet meeting that it would instead be Perez.

The President said more refinements are being incorporated into the EO creating the NACC but she gave assurance that the EO will be signed "in a few days."

She said she decided to create the NACC as an immediate response to the recent spate of kidnap-for-ransom incidents in Metro Manila and Mindanao which have damaged the country’s image abroad.

The NACC will likely be composed of nine Cabinet members, namely: Perez, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez, Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona, Finance Secretary Isidro Camacho, Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez and Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor.

Also included as submembers are Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Reynaldo Wycoco and Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva.

The NACC will also have seven representatives from the private sector, including two from the Filipino-Chinese community, one from the business sector, one from the Muslim community and three from non-government organizations.

"It’s more of a coordinating body," Perez said. "(It will) coordinate the PNP, NBI and the AFP for the purpose of fighting crime and crime syndicates. That will be its function, basically."

While the NACC will handle organized crime and heinous crimes aside from kidnapping, it will not have jurisdiction over the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping cases because that will be handled by a special Cabinet oversight committee on internal security.

Meanwhile, Perez said Mrs. Arroyo has decided against allowing him to negotiate with Abu Sayyaf bandits who announced that they would release two more of the 26 hostages they are still holding if Perez is named negotiator.

"The policy is that we should not glorify the Abu Sayyaf with a Cabinet member as a negotiator and instead we are giving our full support to William Castillo as the negotiator," he said.

According to the Palace, William Castillo, who remains unidentified, is the pseudonym of someone officials have described as "one of the best negotiators of the country." — Marichu Villanueva, Delon Porcalla