Marcos vetoes PNP reform bill

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has vetoed a bill seeking to reform the Philippine National Police (PNP), saying it runs counter to his administration’s rightsizing policy.

In his veto message to the Senate on July 5, Marcos said that while he lauded the intention to modernize the PNP, “I cannot approve it because the provisions run counter to administrative policy and efficiency.”

Marcos said he could not approve Senate Bill No. 2449 / House Bill No. 8327 or An Act Providing For Organizational Reforms in the Philippine National Police, as “the rightsizing policy of the government must be given significant importance. As much as possible, we need to prevent overlapping functions and redundancies, and must adhere to the basic rightsizing principles.”

He cited the provision which institutionalized the directorial staffs, area police commands (APC), special offices and support units, and yet it “does not consider the functional relationships of the different offices and fails to clarify reporting lines.”

Marcos also found the activated APCs redundant because its mandate to supervise “inter-regional and trans-regional police and disaster response operations” is already being done by other police offices.

“With the adoption of the Directorate System, the APCs may be superfluous. Besides, let us not wait for the time when there will be misencounters among our police forces due to their overlapping functions,” Marcos said.

The Chief Executive also said that the reorganization “without coordinated working relationships” might result in “bureaucratic inefficiencies.”

Another provision that violates the rightsizing program is the creation of a liaison office for the Office of the President (OP) and for the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Marcos said a liaison office to the OP “may pose security and confidentiality risks,” while the DILG liaison office “may insulate the PNP Chief from the DILG Secretary.”

He also finds the liaison office to be headed by a brigadier general as “plainly unwarranted,” with the PNP being a civilian agency already under the DILG secretary, who is also the alter-ego of the President.

Marcos also took issue with the provision elevating the status of Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) cadets to police cadets with Salary Grade 21, which would “ensure their status as government employees with corresponding benefits and emoluments.”

The President warned that the “grant of remuneration to a particular class of government personnel” may result in “pay distortion and disparity” among government workers.

“Indeed, the grant of Salary Grade 21 to PNPA Cadets will distort the base pay schedule of the Military and Uniformed Personnel (MUP) by creating disparity among the several government cadetship programs. At any rate, the grant is visibly higher than the base pay the cadets will receive after graduation and appointment as Police Lieutenants,” Marcos said.

Another proposed reform that Marcos questioned is the additional mandate of the Internal Affairs Service to motu proprio investigate cops accused of serious crimes like murder, and yet the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group, tasked to operate against scalawag cops, is put under the National Operational Support Units, which “may lead to questions about its independence.”

The other provisions Marcos took issues with are: “possible encroachment” by the National Police Commission on the functions of the Civil Service Commission and the retroactive application of the bill on the “rights and benefits granted by virtue of appointments, promotions or resignations prior to its effectivity.”

“In view of these considerations, I am constrained to veto the above-mentioned Enrolled Bill,” Marcos said.

Former PNP chief now Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who sponsored the measure, said he “passionately shepherded this PNP/DILG-endorsed bill by highlighting its urgency. Our partner agencies as well as my colleagues in Congress acknowledged that same urgency.”

In a statement, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said Marcos vetoed the bill to ensure that any changes in the police force are “fair, clear and truly beneficial to everyone involved.”

“The President believes it is essential to maintain fairness and equality in compensation for all members of the PNP,” Bersamin added. –  Alexis Romero