A top police official has offered a solution for all the 205,000-strong members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to survive the aggressive implementation of the internal cleansing program.
Lt. Gen. Guillerno Eleazar, PNP deputy chief for Operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said the keyword is integrity which he said all policemen must possess as public servants.
“The Philippine National Police (PNP) is not only about bravery, it is also about integrity,” said Eleazar in his speech during his visit to the Cordillera Administrative Region police.
Eleazar, earlier in his speech, praised the bravery of policemen from Cordillera, saying Cordillera cops are dependable when it comes to gun battle.
A number of slain police commandos in the Mamasapano clash, or the SAF44, were from Cordilleras.
“Integrity is not only about honesty. Integrity means doing what is right even if no one is looking,” said Eleazar.
“Integrity is a true test of our character, integrity measures the strength of our moral foundation, and integrity is what we need to inculcate in the hearts and mind of every member of the Philippine National Police,” he added.
Eleazar made the statements amid the intensified internal cleansing ordered by PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa, starting off with not playing golf during weekdays and the recent ‘No Take Policy’ that comes with his order for a crackdown on illegal gambling.
Gamboa earlier vowed to purge the PNP of misfits, adding all the programs he has been implementing are geared towards professionalizing the police organization.
Amid the aggressive campaign to cleanse the PNP, Eleazar said that it is integrity which will serve as the guiding light for policemen not to succumb to temptations that comes with the law enforcement power of the police.
“There are only a few of them who lack this essential value of a policeman,” said Eleazar.
“That is why there is a need for us, the many good men of the PNP, to consolidate our forces to show to these scalawag policemen that we do not tolerate them, that they have no room for this noble profession,” he added. (Aaron Recuenco)
