By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer revealed he backs the statement by  President Rodrigo Duterte encouraging members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to receive gifts.
“There is nothing wrong for police to receive gifts,” he insisted. “I am also giving gifts.”
“It’s given so, if they receive, there’s nothing wrong about it,” the vice governor added.
However, he did differentiate general gift-giving from “payola.”
Ferrer said gifts “come from the heart;” while gifts intended to bribe officials is “a different story.”
The president earlier said there would be nothing wrong if police officers accepted “gifts” from people grateful for their work, adding, receiving gifts given out of gratitude could not be considered a violation of the law.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo clarified Duterte’s “accepting-gifts-not-bribery” remark, saying, the chief executive was only referring to unsolicited gifts given “as a mere ordinary token of gratitude or friendship.”
The Civil Service Commission, meanwhile, is opposed to the idea, pointing out, receiving gifts is a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act./DGB, WDJ