Remulla mulls ‘criminalization’

of police foul-ups in

conducting investigation

Cavite Congressman Gilbert Remulla today  said that he is preparing to file a piece of legislation that would penalize law enforcement officers who mishandle a criminal investigation so that the country’s justice system can function without prejudicing the well-being and the reputation of law-abiding citizens.

The youthful solon said that as a former journalist, he had heard so many stories about men and women who were brought to jail only to be cleared by the courts due to lack of evidence. He said that stories of about policemen framing-up suspects so that they can claim that they have solved a case were very persistent when he was still working as beat reporter.

Worst, Remulla said, many of them have already faced so much humiliation after the police have paraded them to the media and tagged them as criminals.

“ I simply cannot comprehend how these people could get on with their lives and forget the horrors of being tagged as a criminal. This is simply not acceptable,” Remulla said.

Remulla said that although he is convinced that a majority of the country’s law enforcement officers are dedicated in taking criminals off the streets, they should exercise caution in their investigation “because sending innocent people in jail would only aggravate the disheartening state of our criminal justice system.”

“ There have been so many cases of police suspects who have been released without charges or have been acquitted by the courts but not after they were paraded like criminals in front of the media. This kind of recklessness should not be tolerated and should be treated as a criminal act,” Remulla pointed out.

           He said that the case of Philip Medel , the controversial suspect in the Nida Blanca slay case, is just one of the many cases where the police has fouled-up in handling its investigation.

          But the best example of a bungled investigation, Remulla said, was the Vizconde Massacre case which took  law enforcement agencies more than a decade to truly secure a clean conviction. Remulla said that in the Vizconde massacre investigation, the police presented, in separate occasions, several batches of suspects who had to be acquitted later by the courts because investigators simply did not have the evidence to prove their case.

          “ Although our policemen should strive hard to quickly resolve the cases that they handle, they should make certain that they have an airtight case against their suspects. We don’t solve crimes by just sending wrong people to jail while the real criminals are still running around the streets,” Remulla said.