Eastern Visayas map. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — As more courtesy resignations are turned in by top police officials across the country, the Eastern Visayas Regional Director of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said that he hoped this would restore public trust and embolden people to report erring policemen.
Police Brigadier General Rommel Francisco Marbil said that he told PNP chief General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. that the resignation calls “might open a can of worms” without further elaboration, but the general told him that this was necessary to clean the ranks.
READ: Nearly 600 generals, colonels heed call for courtesy resignation of PNP top brass
“Since kami yung mga may baril, talagang nakakatakot o baka kasi may vendetta. Ngayon hindi na, nawala na yung mga takot ng tao to make a report against us. Ito na yung kagandahan nito, nagkaroon ng level up. Sige mag-report kayo kung may nakikita kayo mali,” said Marbil on ANC.
(Since we have guns, there will be fear or thinking that there is a vendetta. The people’s fear of making reports against us is gone. That is the beauty of it, and there is a level up. Yes, report if you see something wrong.)
Marbil said that he saw the reactions of netizens on social media when Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos asked for the courtesy resignation of the PNP’s top brass, noting that many people seemed to support his stance.
READ: Abalos seeks courtesy resignation of all PNP colonels, generals amid possible drug links
“It becomes a challenge for us, kasi the trust of our people, nawawala hindi kami magsusubmit ng courtesy resignation,” said Marbil.
(It becomes a challenge for us because the trust of our people is gone if we do not submit the courtesy resignation.)
Marbil was also asked if he thought the public distrust stemmed from previous administrations, such as that of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his bloody war on drugs, to which he replied that there were different approaches to solving the problem on illegal drugs.
“Ang nangyari dati is, ‘ano ba talaga ang laban natin?’ Kaya ngayon, if you look, we have number games, ang rami-rami talaga na nahuli with drugs. Ang dami, tonetonelada but again, the people does not trust us anymore,” Marbil said.
(What happened was ‘what is our fight’? So if you look at it now, we caught so many with drugs. So many, tons but again, the people do not trust us anymore.)
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