Fernandez on IAS removal from PNP: They’ll only conspire with each other

Logo from PNP Website

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) – Internal Affairs Service (IAS) should be a separate entity from the police force or it can be placed under other law enforcement agencies, according to Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez.

Fernandez, who chairs the House committee on public order and safety, said this would avoid cover-ups among policemen since the IAS is tasked to investigate the irregularities committed by PNP members.

READ: PNP Internal Affairs probes officers linked to Barayuga slay case

“Kasi kasalukuyan po yung ating IAS, nandun po yan sa loob ng PNP. Yang IAS na yan, dapat po talaga, ilabas o kaya, dalhin sa DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) or Department of Justice (DOJ), kasi kung yan ay patuloy na mananatali sa PNP, mag-a-ano lang po yan, mag-sa-sabwatan,” the lawmaker said in an interview over Radyo 630 on Thursday.

(Currently, IAS is under PNP. That IAS should be outside or brought to DILG or DOJ, because if it remains a PNP unit, they may only conspire with one another.)

He added that this is also what PNP chief Gen. Rommel Marbil wants.

“[A]ng pagkakasabi nya po sa ‘kin, kailangan talagang ihiwalay na ang IAS doon po sa PNP,” Fernandez said.

(He told me the IAS should already be separated from the PNP.)

INQUIRER.net sought Marbil’s confirmation on the matter but he has yet to reply as of posting time.

Last month, the IAS started probing the officers and personnel linked to the case of retired general and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga.

Their investigation stemmed from the testimony of Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza during the seventh hearing of the House quad committee, where Fernandez is a co-chair.

In that hearing, Mendoza tagged former National Police Commission Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo and former PCSO General Manager Royina Garma in the killing of Barayuga.

Based on previous reports, Barayuga was shot dead in July 2020 while he was on his way home from the PCSO headquarters in Mandaluyong City.

Aside from this case, IAS is also looking into the discoveries of the quad comm on the killing of former Tanauan, Batangas mayor Antonio Halili in July 2018.