Director General Oscar Albayalde gives a press briefing on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018. (Photo from a PNP video posted on its Facebook page)
Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has ordered the recall of Chief Supt. Joseph Adnol as director of the PNP Academy (PNPA).
Albayalde’s order came after a cadet in the PNPA allegedly forced two plebes, or those in the first year, to perform oral sex as punishment for disobeying orders. Two other cadets only allegedly watched the incident.
READ: PNP to probe alleged oral sex punishment in police academy
“In the light of the controversy hounding the PNPA, the Chief of the PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde yesterday ordered the immediate recall of PCSupt. Joseph Adnol from the PNPA,” a statement from the PNP on Wednesday said.
Albayalde also ordered that Chief Supt. Chiquito Malayo replace Adnol as the new director of the academy.
He also stressed the urgent need for the passage of the Senate and House bills mandating the transfer of the PNPA and the National Police Training Institute from the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) to the PNP.
Undersecretary Eduardo Año, officer in charge of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), had also ordered the recall of Adnol to allow an impartial investigation into the incident.
READ: DILG chief relieves PNPA Director over ‘oral sex punishment’ scandal
He also said that such “scandalous acts” should not be tolerated in their ranks.
Año said he had directed the PPSC to conduct a probe into the incident.
A separate probe should be launched by the PNP to identify the criminal liability of the involved cadets, he added.
Año warned that the three cadets, who are now isolated in the PNPA, could face criminal and administrative charges. The plebes are also filing a separate criminal case against them.
“We should not allow this so-called tradition or culture of violence to continue within the hallowed halls of the PNPA. It is contrary to the ideals of PNPA as the premier institution that produces the future police, fire and jail officers in our country,” he said.
The DILG also noted that last March, the PNPA was also caught in a scandal where six graduating upperclassmen were beaten by 40 cadets on their graduation day. /atm