In 1992, because the then Cory government said the military cannot be trusted to do police work, then Senator Nene Pimentel created the Local Government Code of the Philippines.
This law in turn created the Philippine National Police, dissolving the Philippine Constabulary and the Integrated National Police.
The reason behind the change was that the PC/INP were the main enforcers of Martial Law and had tasted too much power to be trusted.
It was a good plan. It was badly executed.
Because in the process, every military officer who wanted to take advantage of the situation transferred to the PNP.
The PNP is described in the law as civilian in nature and character plus national in scope. Therefore, no court martial could touch their officers and men and only civilian courts can hear cases against them.
This is the worst combination ever. A group of uniformed men used to the secrecy of martial rule given the slow pace of civilian justice.
Now we are reaping the fruits of this mistake.
Just recently 12 police officers abducted some men along EDSA in broad daylight. The arrogance of these men had them taking their victim to the La Loma police station where the ransom demand was paid.
These officers were mostly members of the PNP Academy Class of 2001. A class that has the distinction of having two multimillionaires in their ranks after only three years in government service.
The 12 policemen all have standing cases lodged against them and Napolcom has issued a suspension order on most of them.
Still, they wear the uniform, carry their badge and wield their guns going their merry criminal ways.
Then there is the case of a retired police colonel who created a security guard business and drives around a security convoy using his guards as a security bubble.
This former Colonel is now in trouble after he and his men assaulted and beat up an FBI agent along Roxas Blvd even after the diplomat identified himself.
The arrogance is so blatant. And this was because of a mere traffic altercation.
And just last Tuesday, Sep 9, a Chinese national was abducted by policemen at the Caloocan station of LRT. The cops were allegedly asking for PHP2-million but the victim managed to escape.
This is the sad state of our law enforcement.
Where those in power, wielding guns, have no one to answer to and have the same access to justice as ordinary citizens.
Napolcom created an Internal Affairs Division. But these are manned by the academy classmates of the same officers leading the PNP, the same officers perceived as corrupt and inept.
They all get away with murder, as they say, and no court can convict them because the investigators are their brothers in uniform. The charges are fixed to fail in court.
And then there is the economic factor behind all these issues. A Philippine cop is paid a measley PHP23,000 a month as starting salary or roughly $590 a month. This to lay their lives on the line everyday of their professional career.
Add to that defective firearms, if they had one at all, no vests, police cars poorly maintained and no proper central communications system to assist police officers in trouble and no real benefit from the government to talk of at all.
Herein lies our dilemma.
Over 75% of policemen are honest and hardworking. They get up everyday, kiss their family as they leave for work not knowing if they will find their way home at the end of their shift.
No one minds them. Not Malacañang, not the DILG, not their generals at Camp Crame, and especially not us.
They have now sunk so low in their careers that the under 25% of the corps are now making money out of their badge. The way they see it, they have the gun, power and influence but not the support so why not support themselves with their guns and badge.
How do we cure this?
Secretary Panfilo Lacson has a solution, being head of the PNP once in his career.
His idea? Fire all present police officers and men and replace them with totally new recruits that have no idea how the old system works.
This would work except for one thing. Who leads these new force? Who trains them? The same old guards?
When that happens, who then guards the guardians?
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