EDITORIAL - A matter of trust

After denials all around, with insults hurled by administration officials against Sen. Leila de Lima, it turned out that she was telling the truth: Christopher “Bong” Go, trusted aide of President Duterte, had made a phone call to Director General Ronald dela Rosa, in which an order was given for the reinstatement of Superintendent Marvin Marcos as head of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas.

President Duterte has since saved Go from flak, saying the aide merely rang up Dela Rosa. When the Philippine National Police chief was on the phone, Duterte said he himself ordered Dela Rosa to reinstate Marcos pending the results of an investigation into the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa in a Leyte jail cell by a CIDG team.

Dela Rosa had relieved Marcos over the killing as well as accusations made by Espinosa’s son Kerwin of giving drug payola to the CIDG official. Marcos denied this and insisted that Mayor Espinosa was killed in a legitimate gunfight with the CIDG team. Arriving from Peru, the President had announced that he believed the CIDG’s version of the killing of a man he had described as a narco politician.

Yesterday the National Bureau of Investigation announced the results of its probe into Espinosa’s death: it was a rubout, not a shootout. With the NBI findings, Dela Rosa can expect his order for the relief of Marcos and the CIDG team to be finally carried out. But the damage has been done to the credibility of the administration.

Dela Rosa had said a “kumpare” or close friend had told him to reinstate Marcos and the CIDG men. Palace officials had heatedly denied that the kumpare was Bong Go. One official even said with a straight face that Dela Rosa would be asked to identify the kumpare. Hours later, the President announced that he himself was the one who issued the order to Dela Rosa, in a phone call made by Go.

The entire episode looks like a badly scripted movie, with the President suffering the worst damage. The word of the president of the republic cannot be constantly subjected to public doubt and guessing games. It’s a matter of credibility, of the integrity of one’s word. It’s a matter of public trust.