Former Interior and Local Government Secretary and presidential candidate Mar Roxas (right) performs the ceremonial turn-over of the department flag to incoming Interior Secretary Mel Sarmiento at the department headquarters in Quezon City, Friday. (MNS photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) – Malacañang on Friday brushed aside Vice President Jejomar Binay’s proposal to remove the Philippine National Police (PNP) under the supervision of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Binay’s suggestion was an “obvious” attack on outgoing DILG Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, the presumptive standard bearer of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) in next year’s presidential election.
“It is quite obvious that this suggestion from the Vice President is made as a not-so-veiled attack on Secretary Roxas and not really to improve governance and performance of the institution,” Valte said in a text message.
Binay and Roxas are set to face off in a political rematch in the 2016 national elections, with Binay gunning for the presidential post under the opposition party United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
Binay proposed that the PNP should be under the direct control of the Office of the President, saying the DILG chief already has a lot on his plate.
Roxas has already resigned from his post and is set to turnover the DILG command to incoming secretary, former Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento, also of LP, on Friday afternoon.
Valte further said that data from the anti-crime campaign of the PNP would disprove Binay’s assumptions.
“The data [on] the implementation of Oplan Lambat Sibat in NCR (National Capital Region) and in other pilot areas contradict the assumptions of the Vice President. Equipment upgrades for the PNP and the BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection) happened while under the supervision of the DILG,” she added. (MNS)