Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday highlighted the importance of integrity in maintaining public order, saying law enforcers and government agencies must not wait for unlawful incidents to go viral before they take action.
This as the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs conducted a hearing on the incident involving a former police officer who was caught on camera assaulting and threatening a cyclist with a firearm.
“Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. It’s unfortunate that in the Philippines, nangangailangan pa ng crisis bago tayo magkagulo lahat to find a solution,” he said.
Cayetano urged law enforcers and government agencies to look for problems to solve because they cannot always rely on non-government organizations and private individuals to come forward.
“Tayo y’ung nasa gobyerno [kaya] dapat tayo [ang] naghahanap ng problema,” he said. “Dapat kapag napanood natin sa Internet, napanood natin sa news, nakita natin sa CCTV, ‘Oh [may] problema, ako ang solusyon dito,’” he added.
Cayetano nonetheless said he is hoping the escalation of the incident will “lead to some good.”
“Personally I don’t really believe in bashing sa Internet. Pero actually kung wala y’ung video na ‘yon, many many more incidents like this na talagang abuso at palakasan ang mangyayari,” he said.
Cayetano also appealed to law enforcement institutions to be more proactive.
“Sana po kapag nangyari ‘to ulit, wala man huhudyat, no one will have to tell you. Automatically mapapanood namin sa TV [at] sa news na ang LTO sinasabi, ‘Iimbestigahan namin y’ung lisensya nito. Bakit siya pumasok sa biking lane, bakit siya lumabas ng kotse sa gitna [ng kalsada],’” he said.
Cayetano thanked Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committee chair Senator Ronald Dela Rosa for conducting the hearing and Senator Jinggoy Estrada for calling for a legislative inquiry in his privilege speech.
He also said he is hopeful the House of Representatives will conduct its own inquiry on the case.
“It is my hope, my prayer na y’ung personal integrity natin, institutional integrity natin, integrity ng mga batas [ay tumibay],” he said.
