Former BFP chief owns up to paid ad on PNP promotions

MANILA, Philippines – Former Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) chief Rogelio Asignado took responsibility for the full-page newspaper advertisements claiming that graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) are favored over those from the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) for promotions in the PNP.

According to Asignado, there were other officers who helped him conceptualize the contents of the advertisements and raised the money to finance the ads.

“I am taking full responsibility for the advertisement. There were other officers who helped me but I advised them not to come out because their career might be affected with the controversy,” Asignado said.

He said the PNP officers who helped him in the ads supported him in his actions.

Asignado said he has been receiving text messages expressing full support for the ads that he made in his capacity as executive chairman of the PNPA Alumni Association Inc.

Asignado is currently the vice president of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC).

Asignado said he had hoped for an investigation by Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno into the issue.

He added that even President Arroyo appeared receptive to the issues raised in the advertisements.

Asignado maintained they have tried to address the issue internally by talking to concerned officials but nothing has been done to solve the problem.

“All we want is to level the playing field in promotions and assignments,” he said.

Asignado said he went to the extent of talking to several high-ranking police officials but got the impression that they were merely justifying the apparent unequal practice in the promotion of police officers.

He pointed out the concerns over the promotion guidelines which Puno himself signed nine years ago. The guidelines detailed the equal promotion and assignment of PMA graduates, PNPA graduates, the so-called lateral entrants and those who rose from the ranks.

Asignado claimed the guidelines were never implemented and have been ignored for the past nine years.

Puno, however, has ordered Undersecretary Marius Corpus to find out the people behind the full-page newspaper ads.

Puno, as chairman of the National Police Commission, said Napolcom commissioner Miguel Coronel has formed a technical working group to look into the grievances aired through the paid ads.

Among the issues raised in the full-page ads was the alleged discrimination in promoting officers, which supposedly favors graduates of the PMA over those from the PNPA.

The ads also sought the representation of the PNP alumni in the Senior Officers Placement and Promotions Board (SOPPB) of the national police force.

“General Asignado promised to let us know who were the people behind this and who had financed the exercise but up to now he has not yet informed us about such details,” Puno said.

“I am directing Undersecretary Corpus to look deeper into this fabrication, which totally misrepresents the stand of the members of the PNP Alumni Association.”

The full-page ad, which was published in a national broadsheet a few days ago, claimed to have come from concerned members of the PNPAA, but officers of the organization denied making the ad during the press briefing.

Puno described the posting of the ads as a “very expensive exercise.”

Besides being a “disservice to the PNP,” Puno said the release of the full-page ad “smacks of destabilization” because its obvious purpose was to create the false impression of widespread dissatisfaction within the PNP ranks.

“We would like to assure the public that the PNP remains 100 percent solid and intact,” Puno said.

Puno made it clear that the national police leadership does not seek to stifle grievances and even encourages the men and women in the police force to air legitimate issues and concerns in a procedure that would help check against abuses.

A text message supposedly sent by a PMA graduate said “PNPA officials must first improve their performance before they expect to be promoted.”

“The problem really is with the PNPA, they are a bunch of substandard officers. Sino ba ang PNPA graduates dyan na matatawag na magaling? Gusto nila to be given juicy positions then they must (be) qualified,” said the PMA graduate.