Call for propriety at the NBI

What’s up with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)? Considered the more dependable criminal investigation unit compared to the graft-ridden Philippine National Police, the agency’s credibility has taken a hit, no thanks to two recent scandals that raised doubts on its professionalism, integrity, and leadership.

First comes news about a detainee’s repeated unauthorized trips outside his quarters, with no less than NBI personnel escorting him. Jose Adrian Dera, who is facing drug charges, admitted before a Senate hearing that he had gone on six such forays that extended as far as Tagaytay and Calatagan municipality, Batangas province, and included a Father’s Day celebration. The sorties started with a court-approved medical checkup on Dec. 10, 2021, and an outing in June this year with a CCTV video showing the detainee, his girlfriend, and his NBI escorts having dinner at a Makati hotel.

While Dera and six NBI personnel have been indicted for the irregularity, issues regarding the special privileges given Dera, and the possible bribery of, and collusion between NBI insiders and detainees have yet to be addressed. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), aside from using an NBI-marked vehicle when the group was arrested on June 20, authorities also seized P100,000 from Dera and tens of thousands more from two of his security escorts.

In probing the incident, the NBI leadership should answer some of the questions that the intentional “lapse” in security has dredged up: How long has such dubious transactions been going on? Is this part of a systemic corruption in the agency? Who is accountable for this complicity, and how has it affected NBI investigations and its delivery of justice?

Just as damning was the CCTV footage—since gone viral—of skimpily-clad women performing provocative dance moves during the fellowship night of the NBI’s command conference two weeks ago. Amid the public outrage over this “objectification of women” that Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla described as “misbehavior that we don’t need in the country,” NBI director Medardo de Lemos immediately apologized to those who may have found the show “offensive.” He also took pains to dissociate himself from it, saying he had gone home early and would surely have stopped the sexy dance numbers had he been present. Vowing to investigate the incident to find out who was behind it, De Lemos also clarified that no public funds went into the unauthorized entertainment number, with NBI agents and officials passing the hat to pay for it. As if such inappropriate act was fine as long as no public funds are spent for it. Well, De Lemos did say those responsible for the incident will be held accountable and he should do so.

If the NBI chief had missed several glaring issues that made the incident so unacceptable, they were succinctly pointed out by others more sensitive to public sentiment and the sense of propriety expected of government officials.

Gabriela Women’s party list Rep. Arlene Brosas, who is poised to file a resolution calling for a House investigation into the scandal, noted how “infuriating” it was that the NBI, “one [of the bureaus] legally mandated to handle sex scandal cases victimizing women,” was itself embroiled in a show that “treated women as entertainment.”

Civil Service Commissioner Aileen Lizada meanwhile pointed out how solicitation among government workers—as in the case of NBI agents passing the hat to fund the sexy dance show—is prohibited under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, while guidelines from the Commission on Audit prohibit exorbitant and ostentatious expenses.

The lifestyle of government employees should be “simple and modest,” Lizada said, adding that asking them to contribute to an unnecessary expense could be a form of pressure that could lead them to resort to “illegal exactions” to recover the money they had coughed up under peer pressure.

The sense of propriety especially among NBI agents—most of them lawyers expected to uphold the law—was clearly a casualty in this incident, an embarrassing lapse that should prompt the bureau to reevaluate its protocols and standards of decorum to maintain its credibility and protect its integrity. It wouldn’t hurt either for its personnel to undergo gender-sensitivity workshops from the Philippine Commission on Women, if only to help them appreciate the changing roles and status of women in these more enlightened times.

As noted by DOJ spokesman Mico Clavano, the misstep could be the result of misjudgment, lack of awareness, and insensitivity on the part of the organizing team. Still, there is no excuse for such boorish behavior. As it is quite unsettling to see a law enforcement agency self-destruct so publicly, it is imperative for the NBI to use this incident as an opportunity to reinforce the ethical standards it expects of its officials and employees, and to promote respect and professionalism within the agency.