‘The image speaks for itself:’ Charges prepared against Sinas

BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY Police General Debold Sinas, the Metro Manila Police Chief, blows out candles on his birthday cake in this May 8 photo of his 55th birthday sunrise celebration that was criticized for allegedly violating quarantine rules against mass gatherings amid the outbreak coronavirus. Sinas apologized but insisted that he and his staff had observed health measures, such as social distancing. —PHOTO COURTESY OF NCRPO PIO

Criminal charges will be brought against Metro Manila’s regional police chief, Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas, for allegedly violating quarantine rules during his 55th birthday celebration, officials said Thursday.

Despite the impending cases, Sinas said he would wait for the results of the investigation and would not go on vacation unless ordered by President Duterte or the head of the Philippine National Police, General Archie Gamboa.

Images from the May 8 event showed that around 50 policemen gathered for the “morning”, the traditional dawn birthday serenade for senior police officials on their birthdays, at the headquarters of the Region Police Office from the National Capital (NCRPO) in the city of Taguig.

The celebration sparked public rebuke and double-standards charges against Sinas and the PNP itself.

“A criminal case is now being prepared for presentation tomorrow against NCRPO chief Debold Sinas, along with other senior police officials who attended the meeting,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement, citing Gamboa.

Roque did not specify the charges against Sinas and other police officers present at the May 8 celebration.

The PNP will also receive authorization from the Office of the President regarding the filing of administrative charges against Sinas because he is a “third-level officer” who is a police general and a person appointed by the presidency, he said.

Photos of rapes

Alfegar Triambulo, the inspector general of the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS), told the investigator in a telephone interview on Thursday that the images from the morning of May 8 allegedly showed violations of Bayanihan to heal as a single law and the ordinances of the city of Taguig related to mass meetings, wearing of masks and social distancing.

The quarantine rules are aimed at preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, which has infected more than 11,000 people and killed 790 in the country as of Thursday.

“An image speaks for itself,” said Triambulo.

Various images showed a considerable number of policemen gathered around a buffet and several round tables organized with Sinas and other police officers, who did not wear masks and civilian clothing, sitting around one of them.

Sinas was photographed hitting a policeman’s fist and another showed him blowing out the candle on a birthday cake.

At least 20 photos of the event at Camp Bagong Diwa had been removed from the NCRPO Facebook page.

Up PNP chief

Triambulo said PNP-IAS would recommend filing criminal and administrative charges against Sinas and other officials with Gamboa on Friday.

Then it would be up to the PNP chief to file criminal charges at the Taguig prosecutor’s office, he said.

The National Bureau of Investigation, which opened a separate investigation by order of Attorney General Menardo Guevarra, gave Sinas a week to explain his actions.

Catherine Remigio, head of the NBI’s Anti-Graft Division, said the agency had asked Sinas to submit a written response by May 20.

At a press conference on Thursday, Roque said that Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea had ordered the PNP-IAS to investigate Sinas’ conduct.

“I think it is a significant advance that no less than the executive secretary has ordered the investigation and that the results are sent to his office.” So let the investigation continue before talking about sanctions, “said Roque.

Sinas apologized for the fiasco, but insisted that he and his supporters had followed social distancing and other health protocols during his birthday celebration.

He said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Thursday that going on vacation “would not be necessary because I will await the results of the investigation” by the PNP and the NBI.

According to the NCRPO chief, “there was no double standard” in the NCRPO’s application of quarantine rules to people outside the police camp.

Sinas said their situation was different because they were inside the police camp and not on the streets.

“I would not be a superior officer if I did not face them,” he said, receiving special greetings from his staff and officers.

“They were my sympathizers and I told them to eat and then leave because we still have things to do. I don’t think there is a double standard, “he said.

Cebu Serenade

Sinas was also serenaded on his birthday last year in Cebu City, where he relied as PNP chief for Visayas Central, where he served from July 2018 to October 2019 before being assigned to NCRPO.

Born in Butuan City, Sinas is a 1987 fellow in the Philippine Military Academy of PNP Deputy Chief of Operations Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, his predecessor at NCRPO. – WITH REPORTS FROM NIKKA G. VALENZUELA, DEXTER CABALZA, NESTLE SEMILLA AND ADOR VINCENT MAYOL

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