Following the reaction on the alleged special treatment to the son of Justice Secretary Boying Remulla, Juanito Remulla, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA says that they will now blur all mug shots of all arrested in drug operations.
Remulla’s son was arrested in a drug operation in Las Piñas last week.
House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro questioned the blurred mug shot and called it as a “special treatment.”
“We adopted a set of protocols in March this year, measures that would better align our anti-drug operations with the spirit of Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012”, PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva said in a statement.
Villanueva said that they also avoided now the parade of drug suspects in press conferences.
“Pictures provided to the media which contain images of the suspect must have the individual’s face obscured or blurred, similar to what is practiced for pictures containing the faces of law enforcement agents,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva said this is to give those arrested due process and not to violate their rights.
“We hope the public understands that this is a difficult, but necessary balancing act,” he said.
