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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Wednesday, February 1, 2017
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Philippine National Police chief director general Ronald āBatoā dela Rosa leads the awarding ceremony for outstanding PNP personnel on Monday at the National Headquarters in Camp Crame. PNP-PIO
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MANILA – The bill giving the Philippine National Police (PNP) subpoena powers has cleared its final hurdle in the Senate.
Senate Bill No. (SBN) 1239, authored by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate public order committee, was approved with 20 affirmative votes.
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto voted against the bill’s passage.
Lacson, a former PNP chief, explained that when the Philippine Constabulary and the Integrated National police were merged to establish the current PNP under the Republic Act No. 6975, or the DILG Act of 1990, most of the powers due the agency were carried over except for the subpoena powers.
An agency mandated to monitor, investigate and prosecute all crimes, without subpoena powers is “absurd,” the legislator said.
“It would be difficult for the PNP’s investigative arm to complete a thorough investigation with the removal of its subpoena powers,” he said.
“Without the subpoena powers, investigations would be incomplete and government resources would be wasted.”
Under SBN 1239, the PNP chief, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) director and CIDG deputy director shall have the power to issue and enforce subpoena powers.
Other agency subpoena authorizes include the Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, National Police Commission, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Cybercrime Operation Center of the Cybercrime Investigation Coordination Center./PN
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