THE Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives on Monday filed a resolution directing the House Committee on Human Rights to conduct an investigation on the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) “Oplan Tambay.”
In House Resolution 1969, the Makabayan, citing news reports, said the National Capital Region Police Office has already counted a total of 7,291 people arrested as of June 20, following the verbal order of President Duterte against tambay or idle individuals.
After drawing flak for its “anti-poor” crackdown that targeted mostly young jobless males at a time when vagrancy has been decriminalized, the police claimed that the men were arrested not because they were idle, but because they violated various local ordinances. Among the supposed violations: drinking or gambling in public, smoking, not wearing upper clothing, loud or noisy behavior.
According to the bloc, Republic Act 10158 passed in 2012 has already decriminalized acts of vagrancy but police forces continue to conduct mass arrests.
The lawmakers said reports from the ground also point to violations on the right to remain silent, right to counsel and the right against incommunicado detention during these arrests.
“President Duterte’s verbal order to arrest vagrants, tambay or idle individuals opens a floodgate of abuses, especially in the midst of unresolved cases of police brutality and extrajudicial killings in poor communities. It provides the PNP a wide latitude in carrying out illegal arrests, illegal search and seizures and in violating people’s right to mobility,” the resolution said.
The bloc said a verbal order from President Duterte in a speech on June 13, when he vilified tambay as potential criminals, served as a general directive for the PNP’s campaign to eliminate them from the streets. Duterte later backpedaled and said he never ordered cops to arrest the tambay, but only to accost them. This, after a massive outcry ensued over the death in detention of 22-year-old Genesis Argoncillo, picked up for being shirtless while waiting for his cell phone to be loaded at a neighborhood store just meters from his Quezon City house.
In its resolution, the bloc cited the case of Argoncillo, a resident of Novaliches, Quezon City, who was arrested on June 15 by the Quezon City police operatives on charges of alarm and scandal following the loitering ban.
“After four days of detention, Argoncillo’s death certificate reflects that the cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma to his neck, head, chest and upper extremities,” the resolution added.
Also on June 17 the lawmakers said Matt Dimaranan posted on social media how the police took him and his companions in prison after being mistaken as tambay while they waited outside their friend’s house.
“When they asked the police as to why they were being kept in a cell, the police showed them a clip of President Duterte’s anti-tambay movement speech. The police told them, ‘Basta sabi ng pangulo, batas agad ’yun,’” the resolution said.
The opposition solons, meanwhile, reminded the PNP that Article III Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.
Members of the Makabayan bloc include Gabriela Reps. Arlene Brosas and Emmi de Jesus, Act Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao and Kabataan Rep. Sarah Jane Elago.