‘1000 Ombudsman cases vs cops don’t reflect PNP state of affairs’

The more than 1,000 cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against the members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 2016 are not necessarily reflective of the state of affairs in the police.

The PNP issued this statement after the anti-graft body revealed that PNP personnel and local government executives had the most number of administrative and criminal cases filed for the year 2016.

A report from the Ombudsman’s Finance and Management Information Office showed that a total of 2,799 cases were filed against officials from the local government units and 1,022 cases against officers of the PNP.  The Department of Education came in third with 222 cases.

READ: LGUs, PNP top agencies with most cases before Ombudsman

“Cases filed before the Ombudsman against some police respondents [are] not necessarily reflective of the state of affairs in the PNP neither [do they] speak of an institutional norm in the organization,” PNP spokesperson Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos told the media.

Carlos said it was possible that some of the cases filed against the cops were “mere harassment cases by interested persons to gain leverage in ongoing criminal investigation, and to dissuade arresting officers and investigators from pursuing their case.”

“It should be noted that some criminal offenders have actually found the Ombudsman, PLEB (People’s Law Enforcement Board), IAS (Internal Affairs Service), Napolcom (National Police Commission), DIDM (Directorate for Investigative and Detective Management) and other internal investigating bodies as convenient fora to get back at arresting officers or investigators, sometimes without the benefit of the right to confront their accusers in either formal or anonymous complaints,” he said.

He added that the individual cases filed before the Ombudsman against PNP members mostly stem from non-service related cases involving actions of erring personnel in their private capacity.

“On the other hand, there are cases filed against police personnel that stemmed from administrative and criminal investigations initiated by PNP for alleged irregularities in the performance of duty such as those involved in procurement transactions and contracts whom the PNP charged before the Ombudsman (eg. Werfast case, AK-47 sale, V-150 contract, rubber boat contract, helicopter contract, etc.),” Carlos said. IDL