Senator Dick Gordon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said the Philippine National Police (PNP) should concentrate on solving cases without the need to identify suspects as being members of a particular religious group.
“Membership of an accused in a religious organization has nothing to do with the commission of a crime. Such labelling violates the constitutional right to free exercise of religion and could bring disrepute to the religious organization,” Gordon said.
“Such labelling violates the constitutional right to free exercise of religion and could bring disrepute to the religious organization.”
The veteran legislator issued the statement after some of his constituents complained about how some law enforcers, particularly police officers, publicly present arrested suspects with their membership to a religious group also being revealed.
“Ilan sa ating mga kababayan ay nagpoprotesta ukol sa hindi magandang pagtrato sa mga suspek ng ilan sa ating mga kapulisan. This leads to unnecessary divisiveness in our society. For example, a suspected bomber in Zamboanga City was labelled ‘Muslim type,'” the seasoned lawmaker said.
The senator from Olongapo and Zambales stressed that this discriminates against a person on account of his religious belief. Law enforcers should just solve the case without unnecessary labelling that can hurt others, he said.
“This leads to unnecessary divisiveness in our society. For example, a suspected bomber in Zamboanga City was labelled ‘Muslim type.’”
“This partakes of religious profiling, racial profiling, which is completely unacceptable and illegal,” Gordon pointed out.
