‘Tamad’ phone alarm eyed by PNP-IAS to alert officers on pending cases

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS) is eyeing an unconventional way of alerting its investigators and officers to resolve pending cases lodged under the agency within a given deadline.

“Kapag ‘di siya magta-trabaho, ‘pag pumunta siya sa mall, ‘pag yung gamitin niyang cell phone, maga-alarm po yun kasi natulog yung kaso, sasabihin [ng alarm]: ‘Tamad, tamad, tamad.’ Kaya mahihiya, Sir, kung punta siya dun sa ano [sa mall],” PNP-IAS chief Lawyer Alfegar Triambulo said during a hearing of the Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee on Tuesday.

(If he does not work, if he goes to the mall, for example, once he uses his phone, if the case is still pending, it will sound of an alarm: ‘Lazy, lazy, lazy.’ He will be ashamed.)

Before this, Triambulo said the PNP-IAS is looking to upgrade its case monitoring system.

“Meron kaming CMIS (content management interoperability services), yung monitoring ng kaso,” he said.

(We have a CMIS to monitor the cases.)

“Kaya mabilis na ngayon ang IAS, nasa 40 days lang natatapos na or 30 days kasi [sa] investigator, prosecutor saka hearing officer, ‘pag hindi nila natapos within a timeline, naga-alarm po ito, Sir,” he told Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a former PNP chief himself and current chair of the Senate committee.

(The reason the IAS can complete a case within 40 or 30 days is because with our investigators, prosecutors and hearing officer, if they fail to resolve cases within a timeline, the computer will sound off an alarm.)

Traimbulo said the PNP-IAS is looking to implement a “feedback mechanism” wherein the case monitoring system would be connected to the mobile phone of an IAS officer in-charge of handling a case.

“Later on, meron kaming Phase 2 yung may feedback mechanism sa tao kung nasan na yung kaso niya at saka i-connect na namin sa cell phone niya,” he said.

(Later on, for our Phase 2, we will have a feedback mechanism wherein the case monitoring system will be connected to their cell phone.)

The IAS, pursuant to Republic Act 8551 or the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998, was created to serve as the watchdog of the country’s police force. It handles investigations on police accused of violating police procedures and regulations.

The IAS, after thorough investigations, can recommend “appropriate criminal cases against PNP members before the court as evidence warrants.” It can also initiate motu propio investigations on certain types of cases without waiting for a complainant.

Dela Rosa deemed the mobile phone alarm as a “very good” system.

“Yung ‘Tamad tamad tamad,’ maga-alarm sa cellphone, so hindi siya makakapasyal sa mall, uuwi siya sa opisina, babalik sa opisina, aayusin niya yung kaso,” Dela Rosa said.

(With the ‘Lazy, lazy, lazy’ cell phone alarm, the officer would be forced to go to the office to finish his work.)

“Very good, I commend you for that, magandang sistema ‘yan [That’s a good system],” he added.

New IAS bill

During Tuesday’s hearing, Dela Rosa’s committee tackled several bills, including a measure seeking to strengthen the PNP-IAS.

Triambulo backed the passage of the bill to capacitate its structure in terms of personnel.

“We need statistician, process developer, yung may management background to supplement dun sa mga uniformed kasi…ito kasing trabaho ng IAS is highly technical kasi quasi-judicial function,” he said.

(We need statisticians, process developers, those with a background in management to supplement our uniformed personnel since the work that the IAS does is highly technical because it performs a quasi-judicial function.)

“At saka ‘pag nag inspection audit ka to asses the effectiveness ng isang station, yung readiness saka state of discipline, you need yung mga highly technical people. We need badly yung bagong bill ng IAS,” he added.

(If we conduct an inspection audit to assess the effectiveness of a station, its readiness and the state of discipline, you need highly technical people. We need badly this new bill on IAS.)

JE