What’s with the RLECC?

EDITORIAL

Recent resolutions of the Cordillera Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee to conduct “tokhang” among media, leftists and cause-oriented groups had caused public outcry which made the Regional Peace and Order Council junk these.  
Following this, here comes draft resolution by the RLECC authorizing Brig. Gen. R’win Pagkalinawan to file charges against an officer of the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance.
    This may now be water under the bridge considering Pagkalinawan was relieved of his command as regional police director and transferred to Camp Crame last week.
    According to the CPA, RLECC resolution No. 6 s. 2021 says: “We, RLECC members, do hereby resolve to authorize PBGen. R’win Pagkalinawan, RLECC chairman to file appropriate case/s against Ms. Aisah Mariano.”
    Mariano is the current deputy secretary general of CPA. The reason behind, as stated in the RLECC resolution, the CPA alleged, was the Cordillera group’s statement released on March 8, 2021”on red-tagging of cause-oriented groups and individuals by State forces.
    CPA secretary general Sarah Dekdeken was earlier charged by Pagkalinawan with cyberlibel for presenting information on red-tagging among others in an online press conference.
    Some media personnel in the Cordillera have also been charged with the same case by Pagkalinawan.
    “While there is a clamor to decriminalize libel, we see a trend in how authorities are brandishing this to stifle dissent and gag people from presenting vital information,” the CPA said in a statement.
    “The regional executives being asked to sign said resolution should reject it. We should learn from the public outcry against the problematic ‘Tokhang’ resolution, from the same body, about how the police and military are abusing their authority at the expense of civil liberties. Playing into the whims of the state armed forces will further erode democracy and ultimately cause violation of peoples’ rights by those who are supposedly mandated to uphold these,” the CPA said.
    According to the militant group, “This is genuinely alarming in the context of rising violence against activists and civil society actors. Judicial harassment is fast becoming a trend as more innocent people, mostly human rights defenders, are being jailed for fabricated charges by state agents.”
    “The ‘Tokhang’ resolution was from the premise for the rampant red-tagging of activists, holding the same potent danger to peoples’ lives and liberties.
    “CPA Chairperson Windel Bolinget is one among many victims of human rights violation by state armed forces. After being charged for a murder he did not commit, a ‘shoot-to-kill’ order was issued for him which the draft RLECC resolution is trying to deny.
    “In several articles, Pagkalinawan has been quoted as saying that the order was only meant as a last option. An article from Philstar.com dated March 10,2021 quoted him saying that a ‘shoot-to-kill’ order is standard police procedure which the national police headquarters in Manila denied. Wouldn’t Pagkalinawan’s comments regarding the shoot to kill order against Bolinget establish that there was such an order, after all?
    “We must not allow this wanton and blatant trampling of peoples’ basic rights. We enjoin the public to express outrage for these attempts to twist narratives by taking advantage of the authority resting on state mechanisms.”
It would do well for the RLECC to check whatever resolutions they are signing like doing “tokhang” on media and so-called leftist groups.
    The RPOC made the right decision to junk said resolutions. This, time, the new Cordillera police leadership under Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee is being urged by the concerned public, human rights, religious and lawyers’ groups and nongovernment organizations to uphold the Philippine Constitution among other laws.
    They say civilians should not be abused by State forces who should do their duty instead in behalf of the public’s interest.
    Brig. Gen. Lee could hold a dialogue with concerned sectors or a press conference on programs of the regional PNP under his command for information of the public and allay apprehensions of some concerned sectors.