PNP chief challenges suspension before CA; suspension stays – Roxas

Suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan La Madrid Purisima yesterday asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to stop the implementation and thereafter nullify the six-month preventive suspension without pay issued against him by the Office of the Ombudsman last December 4.

In a petition, Purisima told

the CA that his preventive suspension was a patent nullity, and issued with grave abuse of discretion without due process.

The Ombudsman ordered the suspension of Purisima and 11 other PNP officials based on a complaint filed by Glenn Gerard C. Ricafranca over the PNP’s 2011 contract with a courier service, Werfast Documentary Agency, Inc., on the delivery of firearm license cards of gun owners.

Also ordered suspended were Police Directors Gil C. Meneses and Napoleon Estilles, Supts. Raul D. Petrasanta, Allan A. Parreno, Eduardo P. Acierto, Melchor V. Reyes, Lenbell J. Fabia and Sonio C. Calixto, Insps, Nelson L. Bautista, Ford G. Tuazon, and Ricardo S. Zapata.

Only Purisima has so far filed a petition with the CA challenging the suspension order and pleaded for a temporary restraining order (TRO) or a status quo ante order (SQAO).

Named respondent in his petition is Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

Purisima told the CA that the Office of the Ombudsman has no basis to order his suspension considering that his approval of the memorandum issued by Police Director Meneses, then PNP- Civil Security Group head, was just mandatory on his part, and thus, “does not constitute gross negligence and/or gross neglect of duty.”

“With all due respect, it is clear and undeniable grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction for respondent to order petitioner’s preventive suspension on the mere reliance on assumptions, conjectures and suppositions that have no merit whatsoever,” he said in his petition.

Mandatory duty Purisima explained that when he approved the recommendation, it was only on the manner by which firearms license cards are delivered to the gun owners’ registered addresses, and nothing else.

“Otherwise stated, petitioner merely approved as mandatory the use of a courier service as the means to deliver firearms license cards to gun owners, as opposed to gun owners picking up said firearms license cards at the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office,” he added.

“With all due respect, by whatever stretch of the imagination, that is hardly evidence of petitioner’s alleged gross negligence and/or gross neglect of duty, which connotes a breach of duty that is flagrant and palpable. No such breach of duty exists on the part of petitioner,” he stressed.

Purisima said he relied on good faith on the regularity in the performance of duties of his subordinates when he ap- proved the recommendation.

Also, the Ombudsman’s order for the Secretary of Interior and Local Government to implement the suspension order, according to Purisima “is patently illegal considering that it violated Republic Act No. 6975, known as the Department of Interior and Local Government Act of 1990 as amended by RA 8551, the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998.

Illegal He said the PNP “is not under the administrative supervision and control of the DILG but of the National Police Commission, which is a collegial body wherein the DILG secretary is merely an ex- officio chair.”

“In this regard, it should be emphasized that the act of the head of a collegial body cannot be considered as that of the entire body itself,” he said.

And because of this, Purisima argued that “it is patently illegal and constitutes grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction of respondent (Office of the Ombudsman) to direct the DILG secretary to implement the assailed order (suspension) when the latter does not have supervision and control over the PNP, much less the petitioner,” he added.

Suspension stays

But despite Purisima’s legal move, DILG Sec. Mar Roxas said he will implement the Ombudsman’s six-month suspension order on Purisima.

“I already told him (Purisima) that we will implement the order of the Ombudsman,” said Roxas, adding that he called up the embattled PNP chief late Tuesday afternoon as a matter of courtesy.

Roxas, who has been in Eastern Samar since Friday to supervise relief response efforts in typhoom “Ruby” affected areas said his authority over the PNP cannot be questioned because aside from being DILG Secretary, he is also the concurrent chairman of the Napolcom.

“It was addressed to me as DILG Secretary Mar Roxas and we all know that I am also concurrently the Napolcom Chairman. So we will implement the order of the Ombudsman on Director General Alan Purisima,” said Roxas.

‘Nothing personal’

“I told him that there is nothing personal, this is part of my job. And he said ‘yes sir, I understand it.’ And then the next topic is that it will be General (Leonardo) Dindo Espina who will assume as an ordinary course of business,” Roxas added.

“The Ombudsman order will be implemented with no drama. Nothing personal, just part of my job,” said Roxas noting that the suspension order on Purisima is treated like the rest of the suspension orders received by the DILG against any member of the PNP.