[] The Revised Penal Code doesn’t say “publicly, improperly” wear, which would require the offender to be actually wearing the uniform in public. The law says “make use of,” which may include acts other than putting the uniform on.
[] The Cebu Provincial Police Office supposedly gave it to the governor as a birthday gift. Could a police unit be promoting a practice against which the PNP has made several public warnings?
THE ACCUSATION. Byron Garcia, former Cebu Provincial Jail chief and brother of ex-governor Gwen Garcia, alleged that on November 10, 2025, Cebu Governor Pam Baricuatro “posted a photograph of herself” under her Facebook account, “wearing a uniform” similar to that used by the PNP Special Weapons and Tactics Team or Swat.
Sewed on the uniform, Byron said, were PNP and Swat patches and markings, which are “officially regulated and issued only to active PNP personnel assigned to Swat units.” And Pam Baricuatro, the complaint said, is not a police officer and has “no authority to wear, use or display any PNP or Swat uniform or insignia.”
“By publicly wearing and posting herself in a PNP Swat uniform,” Byron’s affidavit said, Guv Pam “undermines the identity and authority” of the actual police personnel and “creates the false impression that she has police powers or affiliation.”
APPARENTLY BYRON THOUGHT THE PHOTO WAS GENUINE and that Baricuatro did publicly wear the Swat uniform, with its patches and insignia, and had a photo of her in that attire posted on Facebook.
That would’ve been strong proof she did the act punishable under the Penal Code prohibition. In the photo, Guv Pam garbed in the PNP Swat uniform holds a rifle, standing in front of the Capitol, with five other Swat personnel behind her, looking ready to heed her command.
The photo, Byron must have thought, could prove Baricuatro “publicly and improperly” wore the PNP Swat uniform.
It could also be the undoing of the charge, as the governor, in a November 22, 2025 statement, assailed the photo, saying it was generated by AI (artificial intelligence) and “doesn’t depict an authentic police uniform.”
WHAT IF IT WAS AI? Assume that Guv Pam can prove the photo was AI-generated. (Some FB comments on the controversy said it was “clear” an AI device did it and “only old folks,” haha, couldn’t recognize it was fake.)
And what does the AI thing disprove? It will show that she didn’t actually wear a uniform similar to PNP Swat’s. May Baricuatro be considered to have “made use” “publicly and improperly” the official attire of the special team of cops? No doubt about “publicly”; the social media platform couldn’t be more public. But did she “make use of it” as she didn’t actually wear the uniform? What does the phrase mean other than wearing the uniform?
Some people may contend that Guv Pam’s act to have an AI do the content in her post is equivalent to “making use” of the uniform. Others may argue that it can only mean wearing it or, if not, displaying it and demeaning its value and is thus still covered by the law’s prohibition. And the governor has not done any of that, or so her defense must say.
THAT SHE DIDN’T DO THE CONTENT, IT WAS DONE BY THE POLICE must also influence one’s judgment on whether the law was violated.
Baricuatro said it was a gift from the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO)—whose seal is placed on the top right corner of the photo, balancing the Capitol seal on the top left corner—a gift, she said, on her birthday the day before, November 9.
Could her liability then, if any, be limited to posting an “undesirable,” even allegedly “offensive” material, created and given by CPPO, the PNP unit that works directly with officials of Cebu Province?
The PNP has been giving public warnings against unauthorized and illegal use of police uniforms. Surely, it cannot be giving a gift that might put the governor at risk with the law. Except for the CPPO seal, there’s no mention of the photo’s source in the photo itself. Instead there’s a line underneath the caption HON. PAMELA S. BARICUATRO The People’s Governor Province of Cebu: “The true leaders are those who step up when it counts.” (Note the typo “if” in photo caption; even that was noticed in one comment.)
The Penal Code section that Byron invokes doesn’t cover undesirable or offensive posting. No lawsuit has yet resulted over the concocted images of a witch-faced Gwen or a Pinocchio-nosed Pam.
SOME IMAGES FROM PAM’S POSTS MAY BE CRITICIZED as being of questionable taste, or abrasive, or downright inflammatory. This Swat uniform image may be open to that kind of criticism, especially from the support base of former governor Gwen. Yet it is hardly criminal, surely not classifiable under offenses of people who pose as police officers for unlawful gain or unlawful purpose.
Probably Guv Pam was just being annoying to some people she loves to hate.