Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde said there were no complaints of human rights violations from persons arrested for disobeying ordinances.

“Not a single person has come to our office and complained that their rights were violated so please let us not make this drastic generalization that this is a violation,” said Albayalde in a news briefing on Wednesday.

Based on its latest data, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has recorded a total of 7,291 violators of city ordinances in Metro Manila from 5 am of June 13 up to 5 am of June 20.

According to the NCRPO most number of arrested violators was recorded by the Eastern Police District with a total of 2,237 followed by the Southern Police District with 2,046, then by Quezon City Police District with 1,146, Northern Police District with 1,011 and Manila Police District with 851.

“So let's stop telling people and stop conditioning the minds of the people that these are all violations of human rights because not a single person as of this time, I say again, not a single person of this time complained that their rights were violated,” he added.

Albayalde encouraged the public to report to him if there are any human rights violation committed by the police in implementing city ordinances.

“If the chief of police did not give them attention, they can go right in my office personally or here in Camp Crame. We have Human Rights Affairs Office (HRAO) here,” he said.

In his statement, Albayalde also emphasized that hundreds of policemen have faced disciplinary action for human rights violation recorded since the start of the present administration.

“To manifest our serious effort in mainstreaming Human Rights in police operations, since July 2016 thru May 2018, we have meted disciplinary sanctions against 674 PNP personnel charged for Human Rights violations before the Internal Affairs Service and the Discipline, Law and Order Division of the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, 19 of whom were dismissed from the service while the rest were meted penalties ranging from demotion to suspension,” he said.

“The highest ranked among those charged for Human Rights violations were two Police Superintendents and 31 Police Chief Inspectors. Among those charged 238 were Police Office 1,” he added.

Albayalde also mentioned that “of the 674 PNP respondents in Human Rights cases, 279 were from PRO4A, 90 from NCRPO, 39 from NHQ and 37 from PROs (Police Regional Office), as ranked by unit.”

“Most common human rights violation cases stemmed from homicide, illegal arrest with grave threats, violation of POP ( Police Operational Procedures), violation of Anti-Torture Act, maltreatment and abuse of detained person,” he said. Robina Asido/DMS