Barbers also stood before the Commission on Human Rights for the summary execution of 30 suspected drug pushers in Manila in 1993 and 1994. Both cases were inconclusive. I hope he can rid the PNP of hoodlums. In the PACC's count, over half of bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom involve current or former policemen and some soldiers. That record of men in uniform combined with their abuses during Ferdinand Marcos's 20-year rule has led many Filipinos to worry about former military or police officers getting into high office.
Barbers is one of two recently named to the cabinet.
Active or former military men head the National Security Council, the Public Works Department, customs and Manila's international airport. A general's wife will chair the Commission on Human Rights, which often rules on alleged abuses by law enforcers and soldiers. Senator Raul Roco is a member of the Commission on Appointments, the congressional body that screens cabinet nominees. He has reservations about Barbers. There are so many complaints already about the militarization of the bureaucracy.