Lawyers ask PNP: Keep Enrile mug shots confidential

MANILA, Philippines - Unlike senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile requested that his "mug shots" during his booking at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame be kept confidential.

In a letter request to PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima, Enrile's lawyers said the releasing of the senator's mug shots to the media will be "cruel, degrading and inhuman."

They said that any photograph taken during the booking of Enrile should only be used for "record and identification purposes."

Mug shots also, more often than not, conjure the idea that the person has been convicted of a crime or is a hardened criminal, the senator's lawyers added.

Enrile turned himself in to the police after the 3rd Division of the Sandiganbayan issued late Friday afternoon an arrest warrant for plunder case in connection with the pork barrel scam.

Meanwhile, PNP spokesman Theodore Sindac told reporters that Enrile will be brought to an air-conditioned room at the PNP General Hospital because his blood pressure shot up to 200/90.