Inappropriate ascendancy

LAST weekend’s Lapsus Calami column had an intriguing piece entitled “To The UP Community”. The main thrust dealt with a radio interview given by PNP Brigadier General Ronaldo Miranda, director of Police Regional Office 6. I assume he is unrelated to the Miranda law concerning the duty of the US police to inform a person taken into custody of their right to legal counsel and to remain silent under questioning.

This law came into force as a result of ruling by the US Supreme Court in a case Miranda vs the State of Arizona (1966) wherein Miranda was allegedly pressured by the State police without being aware that he did not have to incriminate himself. This is reinforced by the fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Americans are good at converting nouns into verbs so in the ubiquitous US TV cop dramas we often hear ‘has he been Mirandized yet?’.

Back to the present.

The unilateral abrogation by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana of the 1989 Agreement between the DND through the Honorable Fidel V. Ramos, Secretary, and the University of the Philippines System through the Honorable Jose V. Abueva, President, has attracted controversy.

I have now read this Agreement in its entirety. The first aspect is that as far as the police is concerned the Agreement is not new. The preamble says, “Having in mind the policy of the police on the one hand, and UP on the other, that no member of the police may conduct any police operation on the UP Diliman Campus without prior coordination with, or as requested by UP authorities.”

The 1989 Agreement also says: “Having in mind the establishment of our democracy and the goal of building a peaceful, just, and humane society as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.”

Lorenzana’s abrogation of the Agreement is, therefore, a demonstrable step backward in attempting to build a democracy. At the very least, what was needed, if we value democracy at all, was a negotiation between DND and UP.

There is also the question of the position of the PNP. Does the PNP report to DND or does it now report to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)? If the latter, then does DND have the authority to revise PNP’s operational policies?

I salute Brigadier General Miranda for addressing the controversy. There should be an early meeting between Miranda and UP Visayas Chancellor Clement Camposano. This should re-affirm the even-handed and mutually supportive relationship between the police and the University authorities./PN

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