PNP told: Check recruits鈥� mental fitness after cop鈥檚 threats to ICC
Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers on Thursday urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to strengthen its recruitment system by checking on recruits’ mental health after an officer made threats to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In a press briefing, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong and La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the PNP must scrutinize recruits, especially regarding psychological capacities.
Pat. Francis Steve Tallion Fontillas, who was assigned to the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), was slapped with a sedition complaint due to his “unauthorized and politically charged” social media post after the Interpol and PNP arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte on the order of the ICC.
In his social media post, Fontillas told the ICC and Interpol not to lay “your finger on our Tatay Digong or else we will start the war that you can’t even imagine. This is not a warning; this is a threat!”
The post was deleted, but Fontillas responded to another social media user’s comment, saying “We don’t need to resign, sir. We can use our power to overthrow the government kung may (if there’s) enough grounds to overthrow.”
“I really think the PNP has to make a very strong measure in determining the psychological capacity of all the recruits. Because of course when you give them guns, you also make them shoulder a responsibility,” Adiong said in Filipino.
“Maybe this is where we see that we need to give weight and emphasis to other criteria like on the mental side. I think this evaluation is really good because this will result in an improvement, or our selection process will be more stringent,” Ortega said.
According to Adiong, Fontillas appears to be having problems.
“I saw a portion of his video, the vlog. So I guess something is troubling this guy. I mean, it’s beyond his passion for vlogging. I think something is not right. The choice, his choice of words,” he said.
“It’s not only with the passion for vlogging, something is troubling. I hope he finds the help that he needs,” he added.
The QCPD said members of the police force must remain non-partisan and professional.
“We must refrain from posting unauthorized and biased content on social media and other communication platforms,” QCPD added.
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Fontillas, however, said he “only exercised [his] right to freedom of expression.”
But Adiong reiterated QCPD’s stand, that police officers must remain non-partisan.
“If you’re a uniformed man, you’re uniformed officials, especially PNP, and even civil servants, you cannot be partisan. That’s under the Constitution. That’s under the Omnibus Election Code,” Adiong said.
“I think within the PNP, you have to remain apolitical, they have to remain true to their mandate. They have to remain loyal to the government, to the flag and to the country. Whatever politics that they may have had personally…should not be used as a means to voice it out and then incite violence, because that is contrary to what they have sworn in as policemen,” he added.
Last March 11, Duterte was stopped from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 3 after local authorities assisted Interpol in enforcing the ICC’s arrest order.
The ICC issued the arrest order in connection to the crimes against humanity raps filed against Duterte for his role in his administration’s drug war.
After questioning the arrest, Duterte eventually conceded. He boarded a chartered plane from Villamor Air Base, which left Manila for The Netherlands. With reports from Keith Irish Margareth Clores, trainee
