INTERIOR Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento as chair of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) has disposed of administrative cases against policemen more than any of his predecessors.
The chief of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is also concurrent chair of the Napolcom.
In the prompt resolution of cases against cops, the public—especially people who have complaints against policemen—is now beginning to trust the police body again.
Public trust in the Napolcom was at its lowest during the term of former Secretary Mar Roxas, now an administration presidential candidate.
Roxas dillydallied in signing decisions of administrative cases against policemen.
Why Roxas pussyfooted in deciding cases against cops only he knows.
Administrative cases against policemen just gathered dust on his desk.
If he did affix his signature acquitting or penalizing the charged cops, it went unnoticed.
If Sarmiento did in four months what Roxas failed to do in several years, that speaks volumes about the man who wants to become our president.
Perhaps Roxas’ stint at Wharton—which his rival, Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte says didn’t take place—made him overly cautious.
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The next president should make it his first order of business to fast-track the administrative and criminal cases filed against policemen in the various judicial and quasi-judicial agencies.
Thousands of criminal and administrative cases against cops are pending in the different courts and quasi-judicial offices.
Aside from rampant criminality and the inexorable spread of drugs, abusive cops have made the citizenry distrust the government.
There are so many abusive cops because they know that cases against them take so many years to resolve.
And by the time a case is resolved, the respondent cop shall have retired or gone to his grave.
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In Duterte’s Davao City, there are very few—if any—policemen who abuse civilians.
Cops who become very abusive are considered hardened criminals and promptly disposed of just like, well, hardened criminals.
If Duterte is elected president abusive policemen might become extinct.
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A few years ago, I was told there was a group within the Philippine National Police (PNP) that was secretly formed to deal with abusive policemen.
Their first “victim” was a Manila cop who was a member of a gang that barged into homes and hogtied members of the household while its members helped themselves to whatever they could get their hands on.
The cop was shot dead while he was riding his motorcycle after a hearing of his administrative case at the Southern Police District (SPD) in Fort Bonifacio.
Two men riding tandem on another motorcycle sidled up to the Manila cop at a traffic light and shot him pointblank.
The cop was with his live-in partner, but she was left unharmed.
And then the police death squad (ala Davao Death Squad or the communist Sparrow Unit) was never heard from.
I was told the group stopped executing fellow abusive cops altogether because I wrote about its existence.
Me and my big mouth!
Next time I’m told that the group is back in business to execute abusive cops, I will keep my mouth shut.