Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — It doesn’t matter if you’re crispy pata or fried chicken.
Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II has stepped into the purported rift between graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) — jokingly referred to as crispy pata and fried chicken, respectively — and ordered an audit of senior police officials occupying major posts in the 148,000-strong police force.
Roxas, an adopted member of the PMA Class of 1984, maintained that the source of one’s commission to the force (whether PMA or PNPA) should not be a basis for promoting and designating police officials.
“This is one of those issues which can be addressed by reviewing the existing policies. There should not be a bata-bata system (favoritism)” or personal quota system. It’s wrong,” Roxas told reporters here on Saturday.
“There should be a clear set of rules in promoting and appointing PNP officers, particularly to critical posts. We should not forget that this issue involves security, law and order…security against terroristic acts and drug trafficking,” he said.
The interior secretary said he has ordered Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas Jr., the PNP deputy chief for administration, to submit to him the names of PNPA and PMA alumni designated to key police units.
PNPA graduates have been complaining about the alleged bias in the designation of senior police officers in the police force, claiming PMA alumni were being favored for plum posts.
Roxas said he had yet to see the letter sent to him by members of the PNPA Alumni Association Inc. who sought his assistance in addressing the alleged inequitable designation of alumni of the country’s premier police and military academies.
“The list should include the number of PNPA and PMA graduates in the PNP and where they are currently assigned. But it’s not just for the sake of accounting them. You must understand that one has to serve a minimum number of years before he or she can be promoted to a star-rank,” Roxas said.
“While I understand that there is some kind of rivalry (between alumni of PMA and PNPA), it should not be an issue. If their training is good and their performance is remarkable, they should be promoted accordingly.”
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