WE have dedicated, intelligent, honest and hardworking policemen in the Philippine National Police. But there are many corrupt cops whose criminal activities have been destroying the image of the PNP. Their rogue and often violent behavior erodes the people’s trust in those mandated to protect them.
What is troubling is that some policemen, who are mandated to enforce the law, are the ones violating the law. If they are the ones who sanction, tolerate or even perpetrate criminal acts, then who will police them? Who will police the police?
The lawmen that are found to be on the wrong side of the law must not only be dismissed but also jailed.
Police Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, who was caught on video shooting dead a woman and her son in Paniqui, Tarlac, had been involved in two homicide cases. He participated in alleged shootouts in buy-bust operations in 2016 and 2018 where three suspects were killed, but he had been cleared both times.
Nuezca’s cold-blooded double murder elicited outrage and disgust among many citizens. It is quite obvious now that he had no business being a cop. But many people were not the least bit surprised. Another killing? Another policeman implicated in wrongdoing? What’s new? There is a long list of these police brutalities going all the way back to previous administrations.
This may be the more worrying pattern: That even after decades of civilian rule, we are still so used to police abuses that we have lost the ability to be surprised or angry. We have lost our ability to protest against the kinds of abuses that make abductions and killings de rigueur. We just accept that even in this supposedly democratic republic the police can turn their guns on anyone, and indeed they often do.
We are again hearing the usual noises about cleaning up the police force.
Corruption has become endemic and a way of life for many custodians of law and order and this has led to the prevalence of violence. When you find policemen on the wrong side of the law—engaging in corrupt activities like jueteng, logging and drugs—shootings and killings cannot be far behind.
The PNP recently reported that 46 policemen were caught through random drug tests and that criminal and administrative charges will be filed against them.
The fact that there are cops who regularly test positive for drug use is already alarming, more so as there has already been a great deal of concern about police conduct.
Unfortunately, because of lack of funds, the PNP can only test perhaps around 25 percent of the police force, at best. The PNP should conduct more extensive drug testing among its ranks. The public would certainly feel a lot better if all police officers could be tested to ensure a drug-free police force. Also, all policemen involved in shootings should be tested for drug use.
There must be a serious campaign to root out addicts in the PNP because drug use is directly linked to corruption and police abuses, which often also lead to the loss of innocent lives.
Policemen who are drug abusers are often involved, one way or another, in illegal activities, because they have to find the means to support their drug dependence. They will surely do bad things with their gun and badge. They have no business in the police force and should be behind bars or in rehab clinics.
It’s very hard to police the police. But the people rightly expect policemen, more than anyone, to uphold the law.
President Duterte should also initiate a lifestyle audit in the PNP to weed out the truly corrupt officers who have tarnished the image of policemen. There are so many rags-to-riches stories about policemen who do not even hide their wealth. How did these police officers acquire their loot?
This administration has always said it has a zero-tolerance policy toward corruption, but what we have seen are mostly just cosmetic changes. It must deal with corruption more decisively and must match its rhetoric with real action in the ranks of the police force.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano