Fed up with the repeated infractions of his men that include using shabu or being accused of rape, the Philippine National Police (PNP) will now be implementing a one-strike policy on chiefs of police and unit heads across the country on any serious infraction that would be committed by their men.
The order was relayed to all police commanders across the country during a command conference called by PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde on provincial commanders, regional directors and heads of various support units of the PNP.
Albayalde said the one-strike policy on internal cleansing was decided amid the series of incidents that rocked the PNP in the past weeks.
Notable among them are the three separate incidents of sex-for-freedom modus in Metro Manila and a rape case involving a rookie cop who was allegedly raped by her police instructor in Palawan.
“The relief will be immediate. There will be no second chance because we already did everything about this in the past by issuing memorandum, directives, yet, they cannot yet supervise their men,” said Albayalde.
Albayalde said the one-strike policy also covers illegal drugs use and other serious offenses of policemen that would put the entire police organization in bad light.
He explained that as chief of police or unit leader, police commanders have the responsibility to supervise and also be accountable on what their men did and failed to do.
“Chiefs of police only handles 30 to 100 personnel so we don’t see any reason why they would not be able to supervise their personnel properly,” said Albayalde.
He said such policy was already implemented in Metro Manila when the immediate commanders of policemen implicated in rape cases were immediately sacked from their posts.
The immediate relief, according to Albayalde, would cover up to the level of provincial directors and regional directors if the infraction committed is very serious.
The only way for provincial commanders and regional directors to be spared from relief is how they would respond to the infractions committed by their men.
The PNP chief said the relief order would also cover cases of killings of local politicians and candidates.
But in this case, the chiefs of police would be given time to solve the case before any action against him would be done. (Aaron Recuenco)
