PRESS

STATEMENT
09 December 2014

DILG IMPLEMENTATION OF PRESENTIVE SUSPENSION ORDER
AGAINST PNP CHIEF PURISIMA IS ILLEGAL


The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has attempted on
Tuesday, 09 December 2014, to implement the Order dated 03 December 2014 issued
by the Office of the Ombudsman ordering the preventive suspension of Police Director
General Alan La Madrid Purisima in relation to the so-called Werfast Cases pending
before the anti-graft body.

It is the position of Police Director General Purisima that the portion of the Preventive
Suspension Order delegating its implementation to the DILG Secretary is patently illegal
because the Philippine National Police (PNP) is not under the administrative
supervision and control of the DILG but of the National Police Commission
(NAPOLCOM). This is clear and unmistakable from a plain reading of Section 6, Article
XVI of the Constitution, which states that [t]he State shall establish and maintain one
police force, which shall be national in scope and civilian in character, to be
administered and controlled by a national police commission. The provisions of
Republic Act No. 6975, as amended by Republic Act No. 8551, are also beyond
contention.

Thus, the attempt by the DILG to implement the Preventive Suspension Order is patently
illegal and will not be honored as it violates due process of law.

We are, however, constrained to limit our public statement on this issue because it is
now pending before the Court of Appeals.

We lament the apparent dispatch with which the Preventive Suspension Order is being
attempted to be crammed down on Police Director General Purisima, even when the
means are against the Constitution and statutes. As with any Filipino citizen, Police
Director General Purisima is entitled to all protections, processes and remedies afforded
by the Rule of Law.

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Contact:
Atty. Kristoffer James E. Purisima
09154149857
09298038651