A useless police body
The National Police Commission (Napolcom), the policy-making body of the Philippine National Police, is useless when it comes to handling complaints against erring cops.
Cases filed in the Napolcom against policemen either rot in its archives or take a very, very long time to be resolved.
My public service program, “Isumbong mo kay Tulfo,” is witness to the uselessness of this body in resolving complaints against policemen.
Of the hundreds of complaints my staff and I have referred to the Napolcom since May 1991 when “Isumbong” started, only a handful has been resolved.
On many occasions in which the case was resolved in favor of the complainants, the Napolcom reversed itself and reinstated the dismissed cops.
I have no evidence that cops who were cleared by the Napolcom paid off some investigators or hearing officers, but the acquittals were so glaring as to defy logic.
For example, why would an investigator clear a cop accused of beating up a civilian for “lack of evidence” when there were so many witnesses?
It took three years for this case to be resolved—in favor of the respondent cop.
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I suspect that an administrative case filed against a policeman in the Napolcom is deliberately prolonged so the complainant(s) will lose interest and no longer appear at the hearings, leading to the case being dropped.
For why would administrative cases being heard by this police body take from three to five years, sometimes even longer, to be resolved if the intention is to attain justice?
Justice delayed is justice denied, so the saying goes.
Here are just two cases which should have been resolved immediately given the evidence presented to Napolcom investigators:
The administrative cases filed by Aubrey Ocrisma, a housewife, who complained of having been raped by Chief Insp. Rey Pascua of the Quezon City Police District.
The case has been languishing with the Napolcom for three years now.
Meanwhile, Pascua remains in his post.
Another case is relatively new since it was filed only last year with the help of “Isumbong.”
Luisita Galicia, 52, filed an administrative case against Chief Insp. Arnel Dial, police chief of Orani, Bataan, for illegal arrest and illegal detention.
Dial arrested and jailed Galicia for alleged estafa (swindling).
He presented as evidence a wad of money which he supposedly handed to Galicia in his office during an “entrapment.”
How stupid of Dial!
How could the police chief have been swindled when the money supposed to have been taken from him didn’t leave his hands?
Swindling presupposes that money changed hands after which there was no intention to return the amount after a lapse of time.
