FILE PHOTO: Policemen deployed at Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City during SONA 2014. (Rey Vercide / Photoville International)
QUEZON CITY, Philippines — The Philippine National Police is challenged by the report from the Office of the Ombudsman, ranking the Philippine National Police as second in the list of agencies with the most number of corruption complaints.
PNP-PIO Chief P/CSupt. Wilben Mayor says, the report is a big help in improving the performance of their personnel.
Mayor adds that their job requires them to immerse in the community, consequently, it is inevitable to receive such complaints.
But he says not all complaints against the police are true.
“Ang Philippine National Police ay nasa front line kasi kami sa services, kami ang in touch araw-araw sa tao. So, ang possibility na any misdeeds ng police ay inihahain agad sa mga ahensya ng gobyerno na sa tingin ng mga mamamayan ay magkaroon ng sanction sa part ng gobyerno.”
(The Philippine National Police is at the frontline of services. We are in touch with the people every day. So it is possible that in case of any misdeeds among police personnel, they are immediately reported to the concerned government agencies, where they are expected to be promptly sanctioned.)
Even so, Mayor assures that the institution is not tolerating any misconduct among its personnel.
In fact, they regularly weed out misbehaving police among their ranks, and more police have been charged in the Internal Affairs Service.
The PNP spokesman says they have programs to discipline the policemen such as police information programs to remind them of the rules and regulations of the Philippine National Police.
As chairman of the National Police Commission, Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento says, the People’s Law Enforcement Board or PLEB must be strengthened as well as the Internal Affairs Service to which the stakeholders could go to should they have complaints.
Sarmiento says the intense political rivalry is one reason why local government units (LGU) have the most number of complaints at the Ombudsman.
“The important is PLEB. We are even trying to prepare a module now. We fully understand that local leaders are busy campaigning already. We are preparing a training module for them how to simplify the PLEB post-election.”
Based on the issued report, the LGUs and the PNP are consistent in having the most number of complaints since 2011.
In 2015, the PNP ranked second having 1,265 complaints or 23.67%. While the LGUs topped the list with 2,697 complaints or about 50.34%. (JOYCE BALANCIO / UNTV News)
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