‘Moonlighting’ SWAT team in hot water over party pics

PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil. INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

Four members of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team of the Philippine National Police were relieved of their duties and ordered to answer allegations that they were caught moonlighting as security escorts at a private party in Pasig City in January.

“They were directed to explain and relieved from their present unit pending the result of the investigation,” the Eastern Police District (EPD) said on Thursday.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos had ordered PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil to look into the allegations after receiving photos of the SWAT members in their uniforms and carrying their firearms at the private gathering of a networking company in Pasig City.

“The DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government will not tolerate the deployment of our active police personnel as private escorts or for purely private purposes,” he said.

Based on the SWAT personnel’s initial explanation to the EPD, they were not providing security service and were only patrolling along San Miguel Avenue in Pasig City on Jan. 22 “as part of daily patrol routine to prevent and control crimes.”

Only patrolling

According to their account, a woman approached one member of the SWAT team and asked to take a photo with them.

She later invited them to an opening event at the company she worked for to have some snacks. The team, however, refused the offer because they had to continue their patrol, the members told the EPD.

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However, the photos, which were posted online on the company’s social media account, went viral, drawing flak from social media users who criticized what looked like a SWAT team serving as security guards at the party.

“Pasig City SWAT did not provide escort service to that event,” the EPD said, addressing the controversy.

The PNP’s Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group is also currently looking into reports of three police officers who allegedly provided escort service to a Chinese businessman in Manila.

READ: SWAT team deployed to Pasig private event relieved from posts – EPD 

Last month, members of the PNP’s Special Action Force were relieved from their posts, along with their immediate commanders, after they were caught moonlighting as bodyguards for a Chinese national.

The PNP earlier said it would form a special team dedicated to tracking down personnel engaging in moonlighting activities and the unauthorized use of marked vehicles.