Gordon says ‘kabaro system’ must stop amid rogue cops issue

MANILA, Philippines — Stop the “kabaro” system.

Senator Richard Gordon said this Wednesday as he presented before the plenary the recommendations of the Senate Blue Ribbon and Justice committees on the probe into the issue of rogue cops.

“The values that we have to raise will be removing the kabaro system. All of us are equal before the law,” Gordon said in his sponsorship speech.

“The principles of mister, bok, classmate must be reconfigured back to its original intentions: Loyalty, is not loyalty to a mistake, loyalty is to justice and to the country above self,” he added.

Gordon said among the recommendations of the Senate committees include the strengthening of the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) which entails making it a “truly independent institution, not within the PNP (Philippine National Police).”

The senator said the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended that the IAS be a part of the Ombudsman.

“Mayroon naman talagang section doon sa Ombudsman handling military and police. We should just expand that para kapag may kalokohan ang ating mga kababayan na pulis,” Gordon said.

“Para mabilis—kung innocent, innocent. Kung dapat makulog, makulong,” he added.

Gordon added that amending the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 was also among the recommendations, saying that “persons of good repute should monitor if the procedures on Chain of Custody and drug buy-bust were followed.”

Other recommendations are as follows:

• Suspension or dismissal of rogue policemen; not merely reassignment to other posts
• Confiscation of service firearms and badges of rogue policemen who have been dismissed or suspended or facing criminal and administrative charges
• Shorten the review of administrative cases filed against rogue policemen
• Creation of a training program which will conduct mandatory training on values, character formation, and leadership of all policemen in order to professionalize the police force in all levels
• Police officers should have a four-year college course though not necessarily taken from the PNPA (Philippine National Police Academy)
• PNPA should focus on specific after-collegiate training (boot camp; 27 weeks), specialized training in forensics, in IT crimes, white-collar crimes, investigation techniques, etc.

Resignation from office not an excuse

Gordon said that resignation from public office is not an exemption from being held liable.

“If no suspension can be imposed, fines may be imposed chargeable to whatever benefits [resigned PNP chief Oscar] Albayalde may still get,” Gordon said.

Further, Gordon said administrative charges may also be filed against, adding that criminal charges must also be investigated.

In choosing a PNP chief, a candidate must not only have a clean record, but he/she should also have a focus on cleansing its ranks, Gordon added.