By Mylah Reyes Roque
VERA Files
Police Inspector Joselito Binayug is a part-time instructor at the privately run Philippine College of Criminology-Manila Law College (PCCR-MLC), where he has been teaching Crime Detection Investigation since June.
The Philippine National Police dismissed Binayug from the service on Jan. 14, 2011 after Task Force Asuncion, which was formed to investigate allegations of torture at the Asuncion police station, confirmed that he was the policeman in the video. The footage showed a naked man lying on the floor of the police station, and was leaked to a TV station and the Internet in August.
Binayug has appealed his dismissal. He also faces a criminal complaint at the Department of Justice and an administrative case at the National Police Commssion.
Ramil G. Gabao, dean of the PCCR, said the college was aware of the circumstances of Binayug’s dismissal but still hired him “based on an assurance from his end that all the cases filed against him were dismissed.”
He said the college would now conduct its own investigation on the status of the cases filed against the former Manila policeman.
Gabao said hiring police officers with pending cases is not unusual in his institution, where most professors are active police officers.
“We are very much aware and we understand their predicament that as long as you are a police officer, it is inevitable that you will be involved in many cases. We don’t want to prejudge whatever is the status of the case of Professor Binayug,” he said.
Commission on Human Rights chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales expressed shock over the college’s hiring of Binayug.
She told VERA Files, “The CHR has a problem with that, and we will write the president of that college. There is a pending case for torture against Binayug. How does he teach? What is he teaching? There is an apparent disregard for the importance of teaching human rights, considering that 49 percent of reported human rights violations (in 2001-2010) were committed by policemen.”
His widow, Margie, 28, told the CHR that Darius was the man seen in the video squirming as his genitals were tied to a string and pulled by a person said to be Binayug.
Clarita Carlos, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines, expressed offense over Binayug’s employment as a teacher.
“A teacher is a person of integrity; you don’t need to be teaching ethics to know that. With all these accusations hanging on his head, he has no business teaching,” said Carlos, who was also president of the National Defense College of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001.
Chief Superintendent Clarence Guinto, chief of the PNP Human Rights Affairs Office, said, however, there is no legal impediment to Binayug’s application for employment despite his dismissal from the police service and the pending complaints against him at the DOJ and Napolcom.
“Only the Civil Service Commission, Ombudsman and the courts can disqualify one from working in the government but there is no such bar at present for him. (Binayug) has every right to look for a job. The question is the school’s propriety or ethics in hiring Binayug,” he said.
Another family has claimed that the victim in the video is Vicente Orbigo, and has filed a complaint at the Napolcom where it is pending.
The DOJ is expected to announce anytime now its decision on whether or not to file charges of torture against Binayug, as well as his immediate superior, Supt. Ernesto V. Tendero Jr., and seven other colleagues: Supt. Rogelio T. Rosales, SPO3 Joaquin M. de Guzman, SPO1 Rodolfo S. Ong, SPO1 Burt N. Tupas, SPO1 Dante F. Bautista, PO1 Nonito B. Binayug and PO1 Rex C. Binayug. Nonito is Binayug’s younger brother while Rex is a relative.
Based on his PNP Personal Data Sheet submitted to state prosecutor Philip Kimpo, Binayug has the professional experience to teach.
He received 10 medals and commendations in the past 10 years of service as a policeman. He served the last seven years at four police stations in Manila: Sta. Cruz, Malate, Ermita and Moriones. At the time of his dismissal, he was precinct commander of the Asuncion Police Community Precinct, which is under the supervision of Police Station 2 in Moriones.
Binayug has not responded to several VERA Files requests for an interview.
(This story is part of the VERA Files project “Human Rights Case Watch” supported by The Asia Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development. VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”)
OK, why not inflict on that bastard cop the biblical saying, an eye for an eye …
Wow, PCCr taking the risk of employing this crooked cop? There must be something wrong with this school. At any rate, I remember during my days, PCCr was a known diploma mill. That means after 20 years, they have not change.
Did this cop ever had a case pending? Or it was just one of those cases litigated in the media only. Then nothing happened.
This is the number one problem in the system. Yung mga kriminal, libreng libre sila. Yung mga gusto ng mga kriminal na pakulong, no matter how petty the crime is, the jail sentence is harsh. Nababayaran ang mga justices. It is a very sad state of our judicial system. Hanggang ingay lang ang mga reforms. The reforms are never implemented. Mukhang palabas lang lahat. SAD talaga.
Maybe the line of introduction or forewarning of this cop to his students:
Listen, learn and follow what I lecture and teach you, but not what I had done or what I do.
I think poor selection of faculty staff(whether intentional or just plain incompetence of hiring HR dept) is a general disease afflicting most private colleges and universities. And one of the main reasons for our poor quality of education is poor quality of faculty. I’m sure in this case Binayug was hired because he accepted the low salary offered, not because of his qualifications (or disqualification). The main objective of these private institutions remain more and more profit, and not to provide quality education.
Edfaji, I believe PCCr remains a diploma mill, together with many other similar private institutions producing thousands of half-baked graduates yearly.
There are some good universities with good faculty but their fees have become prohibitive. I have a nephew studying in one of the better known engineering schools and the tuition fee alone is P34,000 per quarter (not per semester), or P136,000 per year! Add to that all other fees, books, tools, daily expenses – you need to be a millionaire to be able to send your kid to such a school. It’s no wonder despite their lowly reputation, those private institutions charging much lower fees still get the bulk of thousands of freshmen. And poor parents have no other choice. It’s actually a cycle that perpetuates our current sorry state of education.
Ano daw ang itinuturo ni Binayug, Criminology ba o Criminality?
—–
crim·i·nol·o·gy
n.
The scientific study of crime, criminals, criminal behavior, and corrections.
crim·i·nal·i·ty
n. pl. crim·i·nal·i·ties
1. The state, quality, or fact of being criminal.
2. A criminal practice or act.
Not so fast! Looking at his his awards and accomplishments, he was an effective Law Enforcement Officer, an automaton, bent on getting results no matter what the cost.
I don’t know, if any of us is in a situation where the lives of lets say 50,000 can be saved by extracting information from a non cooperative prisoner, how far would we go?
Just watch this movie, its an eye opener.
Unthinkable 2010 – Samuel L Jackson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLufgELgjhk
Jug,
Physical torture has been proven to be ineffective compared to mental torture in many studies.
When physical pain nears human treshold, the instinct to survive takes over, the torture victim will sign any confession and tell the torturer what he wants to hear – not necessarily the truth.
@Tongue, #8
Onga naman, pati pag patay kay Rizal at Lapu-lapu ay aakuin niya tumigil lang si Binayag.. este, Binayug sa kakahila ng lubid na nakakabit sa kanyang ari.
Binayug to students:
How do you identify a criminal?
Students: Ahhh.. uhmmm… sir sirit na!
Binayug: Look at me!
Binayug has all the right to find work in a field he is most familiar with. He can even go look for work with a crime gang of known torturers.
But a college hiring this guy as one of their teachers? The college is the culprit.
I draw the line on tying the yagbols and dragging the perp all over the place, hmmmm, on second thought why don’t we try that on the mayabang Mikey Arroyo?