DILG lawyer: No basis to include Puno in Senate euro probe

October 29, 2008

The Senate committee on foreign relations, headed by Sen. Miriam Santiago, has no basis to call for the investigation of Department of Interior and Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo Puno for approving the official travel of eight police officers to Russia as he did not violate any Palace directive covering the official overseas trips of civil servants, DILG legal service chief Emeterio Moreno Jr. said yesterday.

He pointed to Executive Order 459 providing the rules for official travels of all government officials and employees, stressing that President Arroyo had issued it precisely to delegate to Cabinet secretaries, such as Puno and their equivalent government executives the authority to approve such trips of the officers and staff in their respective departments or agencies.

Even if Administrative Order No. 103, which bans certain types of foreign travels, remains in force as so provided in EO 459, Moreno said the DILG chief did not violate this austerity measure in allowing the police delegates to attend the recent General Assembly meeting of the International Criminal Police Organization in Moscow, since the annual Interpol gathering falls under one of two exemptions of AO 103.

The lawyer said the Senate committee should have taken these legal points into consideration in the formulation of its draft committee report instead of seeking the criminal prosecution of all eight PNP delegates to the 77th General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization in St. Petersburg, and even recommending that preliminary investigation be initiated against Puno just for allowing them to attend the annual Interpol event.

Puno then could not have violated the provisions of AO 103 referring to austerity measures of the government” in authorizing the trip to Moscow, given the exemptions under which it falls, he said in a statement.

In an Oct. 28 memorandum to Puno that was coursed through Assistant Secretary Brian Raymund Yamsuan, Moreno said these two exemptions are scholarships/trainings not paid for by the Philippine government and ministerial meetings.

Moreno said Puno had approved the PNP delegation’s trip to Russia because the gathering was a continuing yearly activity of Interpol’s 187 member-countries that could be classified by its very nature as a “ministerial meeting.” The General Assembly is Interpol’s supreme governing council that meets only once a year and acts on policy and operational issues pertaining to joint efforts by these member-countries in the global fight against transnational crimes.

He pointed out that Interpol is the world’s largest police organization and which facilitates cross-border police cooperation and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international or transnational crimes.

“Clearly, therefore, the Interpol General Assembly is not just an ordinary meeting,” he said in the memo…Hence, the General Assembly of the Interpol attended by the PNP generals would fall under ministerial meetings and, therefore, is one of the exceptions, whether with or without cost to the government,” Moreno concluded in the memo.

Acting on the Aug. 28 request by then-PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr., Puno approved on Sept. 2 the participation of eight delegates in the this year’s Interpol meet.

One of these eight delegates was newly retired Police Director Eliseo dela Paz, the erstwhile PNP comptroller who was held briefly by airport police authorities in Moscow on Oct. 11 for having in his possession an amount of euros that was beyond the allowable limit for airline passengers.

Following its Oct. 23 probe of the Dela Paz incident, Santiago’s committee released a draft report seeking the criminal prosecution of the eight delegates for alleged violation of the travel ban imposed by Mrs. Arroyo in 2004 by virtue of AO 103.

Although Executive Order No. 459 was issued by the President in 2005 to empower Cabinet members to approve travel orders for officers and employees of offices or agencies under their control or supervision, the committee asserted that the Chief Executive explicitly stated in EO 459 that AO 103 remained in “full force and effect” in keeping with the government’s austerity program.

The committee said in the report that Puno should be included in the preliminary investigation that it proposed to be initiated by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice, because he too “should be held liable for violating the travel ban under AO 103” in authorizing the trip of the police delegates.

But Moreno dismissed this recommendation on the grounds cited.

In an earlier memo to Puno, Moreno had also rebutted the point raised in the draft Senate committee report that the trip of the top-ranking PNP officers also violated a National Police Commission (Napolcom) directive that supposedly prohibits foreign travels of PNP uniformed personnel who are 45 years old and above.

Although there is a reference to this age requirement in Napolcom Memorandum Circular No. 95-025, Moreno said there is actual no outright prohibition as it is only directory in nature for PNP people attending foreign conferences, trainings and ordinary meetings.

This Napolcom circular “simply gave priority to 45 years and old below uniformed PNP personnel to attend foreign trainings, conferences and meetings,” he said, as Item 8 (4) of this directive provides that, “Should there be several qualified candidates, the age bracket shall be considered. Priority shall be given to those who are 45 years and below.”

Moreno said this position on the necessity of sending only those most qualified to participate in specific major international forums also answers another point raised in the draft Senate committee report, which is the supposed violation of Republic Act No. 9498. RA 9498 restricts the sending abroad of government people, including uniformed personnel of the DILG and Department of National Defense, who are due to retire within one year after these foreign trips.

Said Moreno: “This restrictions should yield to the constitutionally enshrined state policy that the Philippines adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nation. In furtherance of this state policy, the Philippines is bound to comply in good faith with its international commitments.”

“Therefore, the restrictions should not be made to apply in cases of major international conferences or ministerial meetings like the Interpol General Assembly, where only those highly competent or knowledgeable enough to discuss or report on programs or activities that the Philippine government has been carrying out on its own or in tandem with foreign governments, are the ones who should be sent abroad, regardless of their age brackets or retirement dates,” he added.

Meanwhile, Senate investigators are on a head-on collision before the Supreme Court with Dela Paz as they insist on their authority to compel him to testify.

Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. has given his full backing on the move taken by Santiago to have him issue a warrant of arrest, but stated that this would have to be agreed upon by the majority of the committee members.

The PNP also yesterday claimed that the Russian authorities will send through wire transfer anytime now the 105,000 euros confiscated from Dela Paz.

This was yesterday confirmed by PNP Spokesman Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome saying that the Russian authorities have already informed PNP chief director General Jesus Verzosa that the documentation of the release of the 105,000 euros or P6.9 million was completed yesterday and that the PNP is expecting to send the amount in the soonest time possible.

Bartolome added that the documentation was intended for the release of the money and does not any more involve any form of investigation from Russian authorities with regard to the source of the fund.

For his part, Sen. Manuel Roxas ll fears that the charges ordered by Versoza to be filed against Dela Paz and the other PNP officers would only be rejected by the courts for lack of supporting evidence and documents proving their violations of the law, saying that the charges are nothing but hogwash.

Roxas noted discrepancies in several affidavits notarized by the same lawyer based in Camp Crame. Angie M. Rosales, Gina Peralta-Elorde and Tribune wires

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