PREDA Answer-Counter Affidavit
ANNEX F: Executives clash over 'secret marshals' plan
TODAY
August 08, 1999
DAVAO CITY-Local government executives clashed when the issue of deploying so called secret marshals in highly urbanized areas surfaced anew here following recent cases of killings in Manila and kidnappings in Southern Mindanao.
At least two mayors, Benjamin de Guzman of Davao City and Rey Uy of Tagum City, said they favor deploying marshals to allow the government to snoop into the underworld and detect their plans.
However, their colleagues in the national government agencies, including the Internal Affairs Service of the National Police bluntly cautioned against such a move, which would be opening to abuses, civilian rights and creating mistrust and division among citizens.
The Philippine Information Agency here quoted de Guzman as saying that he favored the idea of having secret marshals in the city as an opportunity to detect the presence [of criminals]... because criminals will never let us know when they will strike." Uy, in the same PIA interview on Thursday at the Grand Mercure Hotel where they and other local government executives attended a workshop on Y2K -compliance, said the secret marshals were "not self-destructive," hence, residents should have no reason to fear. "What is there to be afraid of?" he asked.
"These secret marshals are trained to monitor activities of criminal elements ... and to deter their presence in the communities," Uy said.
The PIA further quoted de Guzman as insisting that secret marshals "will augment police visibility in populated areas."
But Doininador Calamba II blurted out words of caution, pointing out that on the contrary, unleashing the secret marshals in the streets "is inconsistent with police visibility."
"We want the government to be transparent instead of using secret marshals. Why is the government giving up in enforcing law and order?" he asked. The police have the detectives who are supposed to patrol the streets, he said, but the problem is that "there are instead more policemen sitting around in their buildings and many officers in their offices than what you can find in the streets."
He stressed that "even the mayors who attended our Regional Peace and Order Council meeting in Compostela Valley have asked for more police and now we would unleash these men whom the people in the community may not know are the government marshals."
"We would not even know where these people would be placed, where their accountability would lie. We would not even know that they were there when a crime is being committed," he said.
Lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate, spokesman of the Free Legal Assistance Group in Davao City, warned that while the motive of the use of secret marshals was good, it would be retrogression of the democratization in the country. "It would create a state of paranoia, that residents would start to distrust their neighbors."
"The danger is the abuse of civilian rights," he said, and warned that the FLAG would oppose its implementation.
Alexis Canonizado, inspector general of the Internal Affairs Service of the National Police, said, "I don't think that would be favorably accepted by tile people."
He said the secret marshals were likely to lead to civilian rights abuses as their formation and accountability is often clouded and unclear.
Director Quirino Libunao of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in the Caraga Region agreed with Canonizado and vowed that he would "never approve such a move."
By Manuel Cayom
Reporter
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