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Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Interpolcom shows evidence of legal status
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
A NON-PROFIT foundation, which was referred to as being "a newly-established pseudo-military unit" by several sources earlier, clarified matters when several of their key officers showed documentary proof of their lawful existence and accreditation under Philippine and international laws.
The clarification was made personally by Lt. Gen. Vicente Labador, MNSA, commanding general for the Luzon area of the International Police Commission, and several other IPC key officers.
"How can we have top police and military officers of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines as members if we are only a newly-established pseudo-military unit comparable to H-World (as claimed by our detractors)?" Labador pointed out in an exclusive interview Tuesday.
Showing this reporter several legal documents like their registration papers on file with the Securities & Exchange Commission, a certificate of Amendment of Articles of Incorporation as received on February 28, 2001, by the Office of the Secretary of State of California, USA, and even an application for accreditation with the NGO section of the United Nations dated March 19, 2003, Labador disclosed that their foundation had just been conferred a consultancy status by the UN very recently.
"I had been assigned before in the Philippine Military Academy, the Department of National Defense and even as a military consultant in Malacaņang. I have not been assigned to Mindanao and I have never been traumatized as reported, and I will not just destroy my name and reputation by being associated with an illegitimate group as alleged by your sources," he stressed.
"It is true that we are collecting fees for the issuance of our official leather wallets with badges and identification cards, but only for an amount of P500, and not P750 and P1, 500 as alleged by others. It is not true that we are conferring ranks according to the amount of registration fees that an applicant pays, but we are only planning to raise our fees a little and this still has to be implemented," Labador said.
He added that the purpose of their group was to establish a non-profit corporation for public and charitable purposes, and to create a united front to deal with private and government entities on problems affecting human rights, and the economic and social plight of people.
"We are also not recruiting personnel to include them in the peacekeeping and rehabilitation forces to be sent by the Philippine government to Iraq. As an accredited consultancy group of the UN, we were given our own quota that is distinct and separate from that to be deployed there by the national government," Labador added.
Also listed as key officers for the Luzon area of the IPC Philippine Chapter, some of whom accompanied Labador Tuesday, were Col. Mauro Bambico (chief of staff), Col. Teodoro Gines (assistant chief of staff for personnel), Major Mehga Rodrigo (AC of S for intelligence), Major Edgar Mariano (AC of S for operations), Major Rodolfo Estolas (AC of S for logistics), Lt. Col. Alfredo Lallana (AC of S for comptrollership), Major Flores Gayao (AC of S for civil-military operations), Col. Manuel Labador (AC of S for education and training), Col. Magadapa Paporo (AC of S for materials development), Lt. Col. Romeo Palod (adjutant general), Lt. Col. Pacifico Castro Jr. (command engineer), Lt. Col. Micaela Defiesta (command surgeon), Capt. Eduardo Biason Jr. (command dental surgeon) and 1Lt. Juliet Mariano (secretary of the general staff).
(May 14, 2003 issue)
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