MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos has promised to create a team that would help cops facing legal battles to prevent Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel from being demoralized.
During the PNP’s flag-raising ceremony at Camp Crame on Monday, Abalos said that if the police officers involved in legal cases did their job correctly, he will have the team assess the evidence and help solve the issue.
Ensuring that cops are not demoralized, he said, is key to officers providing good service to the country.
“Hindi ako papayag ma-demoralize ang ating mga pulis, gagawa ako ng sistema to raise funds, titignan ko ito, kung nasa lugar at tama naman I will create a team to evaluate the evidence, ‘wag kayong mag-alala,” Abalos, a lawyer by profession, said in his speech before PNP officials and officers in Camp Crame.
(I will not allow our police officers to be demoralized. I will create a system to raise funds; I will look into it and if the cop was in the right, I will create a team to evaluate the evidence, don’t you worry.)
“Tutulungan ko ang mga kapulisyahan (I will help the police), I want you never to be demoralized, akin with our duty to uphold the law, to make sure that there is peace and order in our country,” he added.
Abalos recalled that during the time he was Mandaluyong mayor, his administration had several good new police officers who were willing to join anti-narcotics operations of the city police’s Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU).
However, the officers were challenged by allegedly trumped-up charges filed by the supposed drug traders — as cops had to use their salaries for legal assistance.
“At alam ko ako’y naging mayor noon, no’n kami’y merong DEU […] marami sa DEU namin sumasama, bago, neophyte, sasama sa raid, ano’ng gagawin no’ng mga drug pushers na mayayaman? Gagawan ng kaso na hindi naman totoo,” Abalos said.
(When I was mayor before, we had a DEU, and many who joined us were new cops, neophytes, they would join raids. But what would the rich drug pushers do? They would craft cases which are not really true.)
“So ‘yong pobreng pulis makikita ko talaga, talagang tama naman ang ginawa, mabait ‘yong tao, ‘yong kanyang sweldo pinangbabayad pa sa abugado. ‘Yong kanyang oras nando’n sa PLEB (People’s Law Enforcement Board), naghi-hearing, at anytime kinakabahan baka matanggal sa serbisyo,” he added.
(So the poor police officers, I saw that what they did was only right, that they are kind people. But their salaries were going to lawyers’ fees. Their time is spent at the PLEB for hearings, and they worry every time as they may be kicked from service.)
This led to officers being afraid of joining the DEU’s operations in the future.
“Ano’ng nangyari? Susunod na raid ayaw na sumama, nagpapa-alam, ayaw na sa DEU. Alam kong alam niyo, na-experiensya niyo ‘to, dahil ang kalaban natin ay pera, kalaban natin ay mga milyonaryo, malaking industriya ito,” Abalos said.
(What happens next? By the next raid, they do not want to join the DEU. I know you know this, you may have experienced this. Our opponent is money, we are up against millionaires from big industries.)
“Pero hindi tayo papatalo dahil ito’y [kinabukasan ng] ating mga anak, mga apo, at kinabukasan ng ating bansa,” he noted.
(But we won’t allow them to win as this is for the future of our children, grandchildren, and of the country itself.)
This is not the first time Abalos raised this program: in 2013, when he was still Mandaluyong mayor, the now-head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) vowed to raise a legal aid fund for police officers being harassed by drug lords.
Abalos assured back then that the program would not make cops indebted to the local government as local officials would not interfere in operations.
READ: Abalos to raise legal aid fund for ‘harassed’ cops
Abalos was recently tapped by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration to lead DILG which has the PNP as one of its attached agencies.
According to Abalos, certain programs of the PNP like the war against illegal drugs would be continued. Earlier, he assured that they would be pushing for higher legal wins in terms of drug-related cases, by avoiding dismissals due to technicalities.