Senior Supt. Conrad Capa, the man with a big mouth, deserved public censure from no less than President Noy.
The scolding from the President came during an awarding ceremony for outstanding police personnel held at Camp Crame in Quezon City, on Tuesday.
Instead of an award, Capa got a dressing down which served him right.
Capa had complained of being assigned to a position that he considered a demotion after he led a group that captured fugitive real estate magnate Delfin Lee.
He said he deserved more than the position given to him by the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director General Alan Purisima, which was deputy chief for operations at Central Visayas police regional office.
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This is the first time a subordinate officer defied a reassignment order from no less than the PNP chief and even made his sentiments public.
Capa should know better since he is a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy where cadets are primarily taught discipline.
Apparently, the fame which came with arresting an elusive fugitive got into his head and he developed an ego as big as the Rizal monument at Rizal Park.
When reporters asked him about his new assignment in Cebu, Capa said: “I was no match for Delfin Lee. I cannot fight that influential man. It’s now me who’s being harassed.”
He said he was standing on “moral high ground” when he complained of being assigned to Cebu.
The nerve of this guy!
In a uniformed organization such as the PNP, a subordinate can never question orders given him; he just follows them even if these would cost him his life.
Capa should be dismissed from the service to restore discipline in the PNP.
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I’m a military brat and I pine for those days when orders from superior officers in the military were never ever questioned by subordinates, much more so in public.
I grew up in camps where my father, an officer of the Philippine Constabulary (PC), a branch of the Armed Forces, was assigned.
The PC was the forerunner of the PNP.
Capa was not among those who received an award during the Araw ng Parangal sa Kapulisan (recognition day for police personnel) at Camp Crame on Tuesday.