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 Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:16 am Post subject: The Truth Hurts....Part 2 |
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Cleaning Up the Good Guys
Can we help the PNP control crime and change the public’s overall image of corrupt and inept cops?
WHEN PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT AGENTS raided a suburban house of suspected drug lord Alfredo Tiongco they were in for a surprise. Twenty regular-duty police officers had already moved in. Cunning police work? Hardly. The Philippine National Police (PNP) officers were moonlighting as Tiongco's bodyguards and drug dealers.
The PNP's reputation as an enemy of the people rather than of criminals has reached the point where many Filipinos treat law enforcers with a combination of ridicule, contempt and fear. "The PNP has become a monster," laments Sen. Orlando Mercado, chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Defense and National Security. "It requires major surgery."
How bad is it? The PNP is behind half the human rights abuses in the country, according to the Philippines' Commission on Human Rights. In some surveys, the public rates the police as the least-respected institution in the country. And because of corruption and inefficiency, studies show crime has become the main worry of Filipinos after economic concerns. In short, Filipinos do not feel safe. "Crime remains a problem. We do not underestimate that at all,"
Some police buffoonery seems straight out of the Keystone Cops. For example, in Montalban, 35 km east of Manila, policemen were caught off-guard on Oct. 30 when 40 communist rebels walked into their headquarters and kidnapped the police chief.
Mercado also proposes to get more policemen out of the office and onto the street. The senator reckons at least 30,000 officers could be reassigned to patrol work without additional hiring. Even if the entire Philippine force is counted -- and as many as half of 107,000 officers are currently desk-bound, in military camps or guarding politicians -- the Philippines police-to-population ratio is one to 700. For comparison, the ratio in Hong Kong is about one constable for every 250 people.
Mercado also aims to improve the quality of the force. He wants new recruits to have at least a college degree, more for officers. But perhaps the most significant of his reforms is a new accountability structure and the creation of an internal affairs agency to investigate complaints against the police.
The PNP insists that only 2% of its force is corrupt and points to official statistics showing a decline in serious crime since 1990. Try telling that to the average Filipino. Mercado believes most people think reporting crime is useless. "The distrust of our people in law enforcement agents, who are regularly depicted in the media as corrupt, incompetent and arrogant" discourages reporting, he says.
Ramos was more diplomatic: "Well, maybe some [are corrupt], but not all. I want to make that clear because there is a tendency to generalize and blame the police and military for everything that happens. That is a disservice to those in the great majority who are laying down their careers, their lives and even the safety of their families on a daily basis."
Possibly. But we may need to take the problem more seriously if we hope to curb the dark humor making the rounds in the Philippines these days -- and the stark reality behind it. A sample: What's the difference between the PNP and your average criminal syndicate? Answer: There isn't any.
The constitutionally mandated Commission on Human Rights (CHR) described the PNP as the worst abuser of human rights.
Attempts to "cleanse" the police of corrupt or abusive officers remain hampered by failing complaints mechanisms which do not lead to successful prosecutions of perpetrators, thus sustaining a climate of impunity. |
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