Lawmaker: Killings by cops caused by incompetence, ignorance

MANILA, Philippines - A senior administration lawmaker expressed disappointment yesterday over the spate of killings involving policemen, which he said was a result of their incompetence and apparent lack of apprehension of the rules of engagement.

Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento cited the case of Makati City police officers who shot dead businessman Ronald Infante and his aide, identified as Jimmy Almanon, after the policemen reportedly mistook them as robbers last April 1.

It turned out that Infante, owner of a chain of auto supply shops in Manila, and Almanon only got the ire of a wayward courier service van driver, who reported to the police that Infante and Almanon were riding a motorcycle and tried to rob them.

The lawmaker said the responding policemen took the van driver’s statement “hook, line and sinker,” and shot at Infante and Almanon when they met the two riding the motorcycle.

Sarmiento, senior vice chairman of the House committee on public safety, said what makes the incident even more unfortunate is that Infante had been an active fire volunteer for most of his adult life.

He said Infante had been using his own time and resources just to be able to have a decent fleet of fire trucks he and his team uses to respond during emergencies.

“This is truly unfortunate because Infante is an outstanding member of our community. He had been unselfishly risking his life just to help others and yet, our own law enforcement people were responsible for his death,” Sarmiento said.

“If only the policemen involved in this incident exercised extreme caution in protecting public safety, they would have been able to sort things out before firing their guns,” he added.

He said reports indicating the policemen involved in the incident practically ambushed Infante and his aide “is just too unacceptable and understandably unbearable for the members of his family and his friends in the firefighting community.”

Sarmiento also urged Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo to look into reports about an attempt to cover up the truth behind the incident by tampering with the closed-circuit television footage of the shooting incident.

He said there might be a need for Congress to investigate the case to be able to strengthen existing laws against tampering of evidence.

He said the Makati incident, along with other cases of unnecessary killings, “is a result of recklessness by law enforcement authorities should already serve as a wake up call for policymakers like Congress and decision-makers to come up with a more effective recruitment and training program for Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel.”

One concrete step, he said, is for Congress to transfer control of police training, including the Philippine National Police Academy, from the Philippine Public Safety College to the PNP.