The
country’s top policeman, who will be subjected to a lifestyle check like the
rest of his men, last year bought for P1.5 million on government salary a sport
utility vehicle (SUV) worth P4 million.
Director General Alan Purisima of the Philippine National
Police justified the low price, saying the car dealer in San Fernando, Pampanga
province, offered him a big discount for the Toyota Land Cruiser, a Prado.
Purisima also told the Senate committee on public order
Tuesday that he accepted an P11-million donation for the construction of his
official residence called the “White House” in 2013, but the actual deed of
donation was signed only on Sept. 3, 2014.
His statements raised suspicions among senators about the
propriety of the PNP chief’s actions.
Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the committee on public order, also
wondered about the valuation of Purisima’s 4.7-hectare property in Nueva Ecija
province.
Poe said the PNP chief should observe the proper processes.
But she could not say if the people’s doubts had to be doused.
“There is really a lot to be proven here. That those who
made the donation have no personal interest in this, because you did not follow
the proper process,” she said.
Inconsistencies
“It’s the inconsistencies in some of your answers that
really gave way to the suspicions being felt by many,” she told Purisima.
Poe later told reporters that she did not think Purisima was
telling the whole truth.
She said she found it hard to accept that Purisima would let
certain things take place, especially things that defied common sense.
Donation
from friend
Purisima defended the P11-million donation from his friends
in the construction industry, saying the donation was made to the PNP as an
institution and not to him personally.
is friends, who he said had no PNP contracts, offered to build the new quarters because the old one had been submerged in floodwaters.
Purisima also defended his 4.7-hectare Nueva Ecija property,
saying he bought this in 1998 with his own money. The lot has a 204-square-meter
house and has a fair market value of P3.75 million as seen in his statement of
assets and liabilities (SALN).
Attacks
from syndicate
Purisma, who has no plans of resigning from the PNP,
attributed the attacks against him, including those against his poultry
business and the house that he said he bought honestly, to his efforts to clean
up the corruption at the PNP Firearms and Explosives Division, and to eradicate
the syndicate controlling the issuance of gun licenses.
He said he would continue running after scalawags in uniform
and would not turn his back on his duties.
“I will continue serving the country even if they continue
to criticize me without basis,” he told the Senate.
He gave himself and his efforts as PNP chief a rating of 9
on a scale of 1 to 10.
Reverse
process
But Poe, who said the PNP needed a leader with moral
authority, was dissatisfied with Purisima’s explanations about the donated
White House, noting that the actual deed of donation was signed only on Sept.
3.
But the construction of the house was started and completed
in 2013. She said this was a “reverse process,” since the deed of donation
should have come first.
The law against bribery prohibits any public officer from
receiving gifts given to him by reason of his office, she noted.
Purisima said he asked his friends to execute the deed of
donation because of the questions that had been raised about the construction
of the house.
He said the donors had not wanted to be identified at first,
but he convinced them to come out to legalize the donation.
Gift
to PNP
As for the bribery question, he pointed out that he was not
the personal recipient of the gift but the PNP.
He was just the incidental beneficiary being the incumbent
PNP chief and would leave the quarters to his successor, Purisima said.
Poe acknowledged his point and said it was his “saving
grace,” but she was not appeased.
After
a favor
“But the process by which you approved such a donation is
what’s really questionable, which we should prevent from happening in the
future …. We need to institutionalize donations. It’s still suspect, sir,” she
said.
Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said the friends who donated the
White House were probably after a favor.
“They’re not doing that out of the goodness of their hearts.
As long as you’re in office, they know they can get something. Human nature
being what it is and debt of gratitude being a strong cultural trait in our
society, in our country, that’s what will happen,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña also said that while the PNP chief deserved to have
decent quarters, Purisima could have asked his friends who offered to build his
official residence to first improve the medical facilities for PNP personnel.
“Did you not say, thank you for your kindness. Would you
like to spend your money first on improving the hospital? That did not cross
your mind?” he asked.
But Purisima replied that his friends were focused on the
PNP chief’s quarters because it was prone to being submerged in floods.
No
credibility
Osmeña
said Purisima’s reason had no “credibility.”
He also asked whether Purisima had seen the design of the
White House before it was built.
The latter said he did not, prompting Osmeña to wonder
whether the PNP chief would have accepted it if his friends turned out to have
built a dog house.
The senator also asked whether Purisima’s example meant that
other contractors could offer to build houses for other PNP officials, so long
as the latter would turn these over to their successors.
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