SENATOR Bam Aquino on Thursday asked the police if they were not hiding something as a result of their decision not to show their spot reports to senators and reporters.
“Last hearing, General Ronald dela Rosa agreed that the PNP has nothing to hide, so I was wondering why their men refused to give their spot reports to the media,” said Aquino who earlier called on the government to suspend Oplan Double Barrel and rethink its bloody war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives since its implementation last year.
Aquino was referring to the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs on the killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos by Caloocan City policemen last month.
The member of the Senate’s minority bloc was also reacting to reports that reporters were not given access to the spot reports, citing a new directive from Camp Crame.
“If they are not hiding, they should show it to the media,” Aquino said. He said journalists were responsible enough to handle confidential information in the spot reports.
He expects Dela Rosa to comply with his earlier commitment that he would give senators a copy of the PNP’s spot reports, especially on the cases of alleged extrajudicial killings and deaths outside police operations.
“These spot reports, they prove there was really some suspicious occurrences, so it is important that we get them in our investigation. We still expect that the PNP will submit them to the Senate as promised,” Aquino said.
He called on the PNP to be transparent about its operations by showing spot reports to the Senate and to reporters.
He said the PNP’s directive to withhold spot reports from the media contradicted President Rodrigo Duterte’s push for transparency.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said Wednesday spot reports were covered by Malacañang’s executive order on the Freedom of Information ACT.
However, the former chief of the Philippine National Police said the police had basis to prohibit the release of spot reports to the media if the security classification was confidential.