Aquino: DILG's Puno to undergo due process
Embattled Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno will undergo due process before President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III decides whether to accept the resignation Puno is planning to file next week. Aquino made the statement at a press conference in Sofitel Hotel in New York where he is staying for a working visit after Puno announced that he will offer his resignation once the president returns to Manila on September 28. Puno, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) undersecretary for peace and order, is one of the personalities the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) recommended for sanctioning for the poor handling of the August 23 hostage situation that killed eight Chinese tourists from Hong Kong. Puno, a longtime friend and shooting buddy of Aquino, was also named by retired Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Oscar Cruz as an alleged recipient of jueteng payola, along with retired National Police chief Jesus Verzosa. Both Puno and Verzosa have denied Cruz's allegation. At his press conference, Aquino reiterated that he had tasked Executive Secretary Paquito "Jojo" Ochoa Jr. and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa to review the IIRC's recommendations. "Magiging balewala naman po ang trabaho nila kung agaran, isang tao na ayon sa batas natin ay presumed innocent, kaagad sasabihin nating guilty. So, meron na pong proseso (Their work will be in vain if we instantly proclaim as guilty someone who is presumed to be innocent)," Aquino said. "Dapat naman ho kung kaya kong ibigay iyong proseso sa kalaban ay pati naman po iyong kaibigan at kakampi meron din proseso na pagdadaanan na hindi na lang kumbaga may humiling na bigtiin yan, binigti ko na kaagad. Hindi naman ho yata tama rin yun," he added. (If I can accord due process to my enemies, I should also accord due process to my friends and allies. I shouldn't hang a person just because someone requested it. That's not right.)