By Butch Fernandez & Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
SEN. Panfilo M. Lacson on Tuesday said the Duterte administration’s ongoing crackdown against so-called tambay, or street-corner loiterers, should be carried out by local government units (LGUs) and not the Philippine National Police (PNP).
At the House of Representatives, meanwhile, a party-list group is seeking an investigation into the “anti-tambay” campaign of the Duterte administration in Metro Manila. Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate and Bayan Muna Chairman and former Rep. Neri Colmenares are seeking congressional probe following the killing of arrested tambay Genesis Argoncillo, a.k.a. ‘Tisoy,” who was arrested by police of the Station 4 in Novaliches, Quezon City on Friday and was found dead on Monday in his detention cell.
“This is really condemnable considering that Tisoy was just supposedly sitting near his house when he was arrested by the police. There is no reason to arrest him in the first place, even if they use the Civil Code for public nuisance,” Zarate said.
Lacson, a former PNP chief before his election to the Senate, pointed out that the arrests of loiterers were based on local ordinances and would “best be addressed” by local authorities.
In a news statement, the senator said the perceived problem poised by so-called loiterers “can best be addressed…at the local level, without having to elevate it to the national level.” “If they say, being tambay violates local ordinances, keep it local,” Lacson said, adding: “The chief [and the] PNP doing all the explaining and justifying instead of the concerned local chiefs of police only adds up to the suspicion and criticisms.”
The senator suggested it would be better to leave it to local chiefs of police who can implement local ordinances under the provisions of the PNP law.
For instance, Lacson recalled the highly successful anti-criminality experience of Davao City under then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, which gained widespread public support from local residents, noting that the “highly successful Davao City anti-criminality experience under then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte gained widespread, almost unanimous public support from Davaoeños, and as recent history tells us, even catapulted him to where he is now.”
Moreover, the senator cited what he described as a “similar success story [involving] Marikina City, where the administration of then- Mayor Bayani Fernando managed to address the issue as part of its anti-criminality campaign.”
Lacson cited the experiences in Davao and Marikina cities that could serve a “good template” for the PNP to replicate.