Filtered By: Topstories
News

Sen. Santiago defends Robredo, scores Puno and PNP


Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Sunday emerged as an unlikely ally of beleaguered Secretary Jesse Robredo, saying it would be a waste of talent if the chief of Interior and Local Government does not get a second chance. At same time, the senator questioned the appointment of his deputy, Undersecretary Rico Puno, whose business deals with the police and military establishments, she said, constitutes a conflict of interest. In an interview on radio dzBB, Santiago criticized Puno who was given administrative supervision over the police. As the controversy rages over the bungled police rescue of Hong Kong tourists held hostage by a dismissed police captain on Aug. 23, and who among the civilian and police officials should take the blame for the way the 11-hour incident ended in a bloody carnage, Santiago defended Robredo – the interior and local government chief who did not have authority over the police. The former Naga City mayor drew criticisms for supposedly mishandling the hostage crisis at the Quirino Grandstand, where eight tourists from Hong Kong were killed. Robredo later admitted he was kept "out of the loop" at the height of the crisis because President Benigno Aquino III assigned him to manage local governments and Puno to supervise the Philippine National Police. "Robredo is a Ramon Magsaysay awardee. It will be such a waste if he will be removed from his post because he has just barely started. But if I were in his situation, I would have gone (to Quirino Grandstand) anyway. But I think we should give him a second chance," said Santiago in Pilipino. He was seen as the highest government official who went to the scene of carnage after the dead and surviving hostages were already taken out of the Hong Thai Travel bus where dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza held, who was brandishing police-issued M-16 assault rifle, held hostage 21 tourists from Hong Kong and the staff of the travel agency. In the case of Puno, whose company was involved with the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Santiago also raised the problem of conflict of interest. "Puno should not be at the DILG because of conflict of interest," she said. A profile of Puno issued by Malacañang showed that he headed the Far East Ballistics Corp. from 1992 to 1995, and was responsible for "policies for the improvement and development in the production of ammunition. The profile added that Puno was instrumental in "creating new markets for the products of" Far East Ballistics "as he opened its doors" to both the PNP and AFP. Santiago, who is on leave due to hypothyroidism, said she will make it a point to attend the hearings when members of the Congress sit as the Commission on Appointments (CA). She told dzBB, she is keen on invoking Section 20 of the CA rules so that incompetent Cabinet officials will not get confirmed to the post. Section 20 of the Rules of the CA empowers any member of the commission to suspend the appointment of any government official that needs its confirmation. Santiago then said that if anyone has to be removed from his post in connection with the Aug. 23 tragedy, it has to be PNP head Director General Jesus Verzosa based on the doctrine of command responsibility. However, Verzosa, who will reach the mandatory retirement age of 56 by December, has opted for an early retirement this month. —VS, GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT