Background missing

JEERS TO The Philippine Star for failing to provide background in a story involving suspended Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima.

Last Dec. 6, the paper reported that PNP Deputy General Leonardo Espina has been appointed PNP officer-in-charge (OIC) following Purisima’s six-month suspension. However, it added that the OIC position was going to be short-lived. It also said that President Benigno Aquino III and interior secretary Manuel Roxas II—who would have the last say on Purisima’s replacement—had not yet issued a statement regarding the suspension. (“No replacement yet for suspended PNP chief”)

However, the Star did not adequately explain the the basis for Purisima’s six-month suspension.

The Office of the Ombudsman ordered Purisima’s preventive suspension amid allegations that that he was involved in a P100-million shady contract the PNP entered into with a courier service delivering firearms licenses in 2011.

Several plunder and graft complaints against Purisima are also pending before the Office of the Ombudsman over his supposed mansion located in Nueva Ecija as well as alleged anomalies in the renovation project of the PNP chief’s official quarters in Camp Crame.