THE damage inflicted on the Philippine National Police following the involvement of some of its officials in high-profile cases have directly hit the heart and integrity of the agency.
Already reeling from controversies, the institution has further been deeply demoralized. The latest remark of President Rodrigo Duterte declaring his exasperation over the ‘ninja cops’ issue has been a huge statement. Miffed and disconcerted, the President, after Lt. Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa was installed as OIC-PNP chief, ordered a widescale revamp of the agency which was unexpected.
Since PNP chief, Gen. Oscar Albayalde decided to opt for “non-duty status” as opposed to the President’s suggestion for him to tender his terminal leave, the series of events inside the police bureaucracy have made more urgent the need to introduce new reforms in the organization, the results of which may take time before the national police regains its blemished dignity.
Albayalde’s ‘early retirement’ has unexpectedly triggered an avalance of events that further highlight the dysfunctions happening in the PNP. Worse, in another whammy, three ninja cops linked to the former PN chief when he was provincial director of Pampanga, were ordered dismissed by the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS) in another buy-bust case.
Then there was the fatal Dormitorio hazing case which really shook up the Philippine Military Academy. While hazing of plebes has long been criticized as a terrible tradition that has since been outlawed, misplaced fraternal ties which disregard what is right, legal and appropriate, still persist to this day.
The IAS, with its share of frustration when its recommendations were downgraded by the PNP leadership, has openly declared its desire to be placed outside the PNP control and be directly under the National Police Commission.
In public hearings, the Senate even discovered that many dismissal cases recommended by IAS, have been watered down while on their way to the Napolcom. Though no one was directly pinpointed as the culprit, it was clear that unseen hands have tinkered with the evidences. With the cases weakened, the Commission’s reviewers were left no option but to dismiss them.
Unless identified defects in our police system are corrected, the PNP will encounter deeper troubles that will likely derail the government’s resolute campaign to contain illegal drugs, corruption, and criminality. It will be a thorny journey, but we must be optimistic defects will be corrected.
