Sack the crooks, Aquino tells PNP chief
“Sack, punish the crooked and reward the righteous so they will demonstrate even more boldness in the service.”
Thus did President Aquino coach his marching orders to Director General Ricardo Marquez, who formally assumed Thursday the position of full-time chief of the Philippine National Police.
Marquez, a member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Sandigan Class of 1982, replaced Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, who led the command for less than a year as officer in charge.
Speaking at the PNP change of command rites in Camp Crame on Thursday, the President reminded the PNP that in his daang matuwid (righteous path) crusade, “there is no place for the pulis patola (bumbling cop) image as well as the wangwang mentality (sense of entitlement).”
Marquez, who spoke ahead of the President, delivered the same message, and fired off a series of stern warnings and directives to the assembled police force.
“Let me make this very clear: Do your job well and you will be rewarded. But betray your oath and violate the law, I will make sure to put you in your place,” he said in his speech.
The 54-year-old Marquez, who was promoted from director to director general in one leap, said he was tired and fed up with reports of lawmen getting involved in illegal activities like extortion.
Singled out
The President said the police force should know exactly the kind of policeman they should not emulate. He then singled out PO1 Ricardo Cesar Pascua, whom he identified as the cop whose vehicle reportedly got in the way of the presidential convoy sometime in 2012.
As a TV network showed a video of the incident, Aquino said: “You can hardly read his car plates, his vehicle was not registered and he did not have a driver’s license.”
“Is this the kind of person we’d expect to enforce the law?” he asked.
However, the President said, there were a number of PNP personnel who were the exact opposite of Pascua.
He then cited some “model” law enforcers: Senior Inspector Charity Galvez, who was at the head of a 29-member police team that clashed with about 250 communist rebels in Agusan del Sur in 2011; PO3 Edlyn Arbo, who single-handedly subdued and arrested a suspected robber in a passenger jeepney;
PO3 Felipe Moncatar, who was responsible for putting behind bars an undisclosed number of criminals; PO2 Dondon Sultan who refused to accept a P1,000 reward from a vehicle owner he had assisted; and four unnamed rookie policewomen who promptly responded to a reported robbery by the Martilyo Gang members at the Mall of Asia in 2014, among others.
Aquino also praised Interior Secretary Mar Roxas for being the cops’ “brother in service” and “guide to the righteous path.”
Police-to-pistol ratio
He said the ongoing PNP reforms should continue. “From the 1:1 police-to-pistol ratio, which has been realized for the first time in PNP history, to pushing for the PNP Capability Enhance Program and strengthening of of what you call ‘Shoot, Scoot and Communicate,’ and the provision of housing and pension benefits, the government has been looking after your welfare,” he said.
With a full-time chief, the PNP was now in a very good position to do its mandated tasks, he said.
He said Marquez was the “most qualified” for the post. “He embodies the principles that should be followed by a model policeman: hardworking, smart and with a strong determination to fulfill his mandate,” the President said.
Marquez ordered an immediate review of the PNP’s disciplinary mechanism and ensure that it is included in the PNP modernization bill being drafted in Congress.–With Matthew Reysio-Cruz
