Aquino orders probe into sacking of police academy chief

President Aquino has stepped into the leadership squabble at the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA), ordering an investigation into the sacking of its director and the recall of all its trainers back to the Philippine National Police, according to Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Malacañang has also ordered an audit of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC), the agency under the Department of the Interior and Local Government that supervises the PNPA, after the police academy director, Chief Supt. Noel Constantino, complained that he was sacked by the PPSC for exposing corrupt practices at the school.

Speaking to reporters, Roxas said President Aquino directed Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa to reinstate PNPA director Chief Supt. Noel Constantino, who was terminated by PPSC president Ruben Platon on Sept. 26.

Status quo order

After Platon sacked Constantino, PNP Director General Alan Purisima expressed his displeasure over the PPSC decision by recalling to the PNP all the police personnel assigned to teach at the academy.

“This matter has reached the President. He has ordered the executive secretary to issue a status quo (order) in the PNPA,” Roxas told reporters at Camp Crame on Thursday.

“The President has asked for a report on why this incident happened,” he added.

In a news conference last week, Constantino said the PPSC was forcing police cadets to buy gadgets and other things that they did not need. He said that while each PNPA cadet received a monthly salary of P29,000, they were left with only P7,000 after all the PPSC-imposed supplies were deducted.

“This is called ‘issuematic’ among the PNPA cadets because they are issued automatically even if they do not want the supplies,” Constantino said. These included “overpriced” rubber shoes, laptops, insurance policies and rifle butts—some of which came from suppliers that did not have contracts with the government, he said.

Constantino also said the PNPA had been paying P1.5 million a month for electricity because more than 10 private concessionaires on the PNPA campus in Camp Mariano Castañeda in Silang, Cavite, were not paying rent or for their electricity and water.

Constantino also accused Platon and other PPSC officials of blocking his efforts to set minimum physical and academic standards for the police cadets, including for those taking the entrance exam.

Platon’s backer

The Inquirer tried but failed to get Platon’s comment.

Earlier, Platon, who was recommended to the post by his predecessor and President Aquino’s aunt, Margarita Cojuangco, said he did not renew Constantino’s six-month appointment because the police officer was making moves without informing him. He also said Purisima should have appealed the decision to sack Constantino instead of suddenly recalling all the PNP officers assigned to teach at the academy.

Cojuangco is listed as a “consultant” of the PPSC under the Office of the President.