Metro Manila police chief Debold Sinas will still face administrative and criminal proceedings for holding a birthday celebration in the middle of the lockdown, Palace spokesman Harry Roque said.
This was despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that Sinas did not deserve to be sacked just because of the controversial mañanita or serenade at Camp Bagong in Taguig.
READ: ‘Kinantahan lang siya’: Duterte says Sinas stays as Metro Manila police commander
“Malinaw ang sabi ng ating Presidente. Mananatili siya sa pwesto sa ngayon,” Roque said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Roque said the president, a former prosecutor, understood that cases against Sinas must proceed.
On Tuesday, Duterte said: “I don’t believe in firing him because kinantahan siya ng ‘Happy Birthday.”
“Ako `yung ayaw na malipat siya (Sinas). He is a good officer, an honest one. Di niya kasalanan kung may mangharana sa kanya sa birthday niya,” he said.
Sinas’ case had sparked accusations of a double standard in the application of quarantine measures. (PressONE.ph)