51 cops in exam cheating case reinstated

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A regional trial court (RTC) has reinstated 51 policemen who were accused of cheating in police entrance examinations, which they took after completing police training in 2011 in four areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Executive Judge Bansawan Ibrahim of RTC Region 12 said there was lack of “corroborating evidence” to charge the examinees under Republic Act No. 9416, or the anticheating law.

The policemen graduated from training in April 2011 and were among 387 who took the Philippine National Police entrance tests that were conducted by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) in Jolo town, Sulu province, and in the cities of Zamboanga, Koronadal and Pagadian.

They were admitted to the PNP but the Napolcom Regional Appellate Board (RAB) ruled on July 20, 2012, to nullify the test results based on a pattern of “analysis,” suggesting “statistical improbability.”

The People’s Alliance for Democracy and Reform (Pader) helped 51 of the policemen to secure legal assistance and petition the court.

In a statement, it said their case was still under appeal at the RAB when the board forwarded it to the Napolcom. In July last year, the commission ruled en banc to dismiss the policemen.

The RTC noted that the petitioners already had valid appointments attested by the Civil Service Commission and that their dismissal lacked corroborating evidence. The RAB had pointed out that 387 examinees had given “homogeneous (similar) wrong answers.”

Lawyers Mimbalawag Mangotara Jr. and Erlan Deluvio, the petitioners’ counsels, said the statistical finding could not even be independently validated with an academic seal of authority.

Edgar Yuga, Pader founding chair, and Eid Kabalu, vice president, hailed the court’s decision as “a golden opportunity for the illegally dismissed policemen to regain their integrity through demonstration of honesty, sincerity and commitment to community and public service.”

The rest of the 336 policemen can also contest the Napolcom ruling, Pader said. Nash B. Maulana, Inquirer Mindanao