Video recording for good governance

What exposed ex-policeman Wilfredo “Willie” Gonzales as the criminal aggressor in his fight with a bicycle rider, lies the solution to transform government into an institution of kind-hearted and law-abiding public servants.

A gadget (most probably a smart phone) video recorded Gonzales in the act of hitting, cursing, and pulling a gun at the bike rider. No matter what protestations Gonzales makes, the video recording shows to the whole world that he was the wrongdoer and not the victim that he claims to be.

What gall he has to blame the vlogger who uploaded the video as being responsible for making him look bad, when all that the vlogger did was to show how Gonzales demonstrated how bad he really is. If not for the video recording, the cyclist would have stood no chance for his narrative to prevail. While Gonzales is already a dismissed cop, he obviously still held influence as shown by his having been given the stage to hold a press conference with a police general by his side at that.

It is almost always the case that, when an ordinary citizen gets in trouble with a public official, government authorities side with the public official’s version of the conflict, because of a warped interpretation of the so-called “presumption of regularity” of official functions. That is, unless, a video recording of the incident is presented clearly showing that the public official was lying through his/her teeth. A video recording is the only weapon that private citizens can effectively have against erring public officials.

Take for instance police operations that result in the death of civilians. Virtually all the instances when police personnel have been prosecuted and convicted for crimes are those where there are video recordings showing the criminal conduct of the police officers. Absent any video evidence, police personnel get away even with heinous crimes.

The Supreme Court has recognized how essential video evidence is, to prevent abuses by police officers. The high court has promulgated rules mandatorily requiring police officers to wear body cameras when they execute warrants of arrest and search warrants. The rule was issued in response to the thousands of deaths in police hands during the Duterte administration’s drug war. Virtually all the deaths were claimed as “nanlaban” incidents where the victims supposedly fought it out with the police. No amount of witness testimony was considered enough to overturn the police version. But with a body camera recording a warrant implementation, the police can no longer make up a fake nanlaban excuse.

The service of warrants represents a very small part of police operations, however. The bulk of police irregularities where highly suspicious civilian deaths happen is in drug buy-bust operations and warrantless arrests. These are not covered by the body camera requirement because the jurisdiction to regulate them belongs to Congress and the President, and not the Supreme Court. If the Marcos administration wants to secure a truly transformational legacy, it can cleanse the police force of its reputation as an institution full of rogues, by crafting ways and means to legitimize video recording as an integral part of police operations that are prone to irregularities. Advances in technology have made hidden mini cameras readily accessible.

Another public office that badly needs to impose mandatory video coverage of its operations is the Bureau of Immigration. The reason why the Department of Justice is receiving intense condemnation on its recalibrated requirements for outbound Filipino travelers, is because there’s widespread mistrust of airport immigration officials. Complaints abound on their mistreatment of legitimate travelers. The controversial rules are actually reasonable and there’s genuine need to protect Filipinos from human trafficking. But so many Filipinos think that there’s an equally big need to protect Filipinos from rogue immigration officials who will misuse the stricter rules to hassle and milk money from travelers. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla should require all airport immigration officials to video record their interactions with travelers if he wants to earn the public’s trust in his initiatives.

The Marcos administration should inventory public offices in need of transparency, and require these offices to have video recordings of their dealings with the public. There’s lots of money for camera or video gadgets. The billions in confidential and intelligence funds are intended for purposes that can be better attained by video gadgets.

Video recording will make public officials exhibit their best behavior. They will smile, display kindness, and exercise honesty. Video recording will bring about a massive transformation in government behavior. In front of the camera, pompous, callous, and graft-prone officials will metamorphose into sweet-smiling angels.

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