‘WPD cops must desist from acting as morgue agents’

Western Police District (WPD) director Chief Superintendent Nicolas Pasinos has ordered his men to stop acting as agents of funeral parlors or face relief.

In a memorandum, Pasinos said that all station commanders and division heads of WPD would be held responsible should their men continue to engage in the illegal practice.

"The issue puts the police in bad light. It is an unimaginable thing which must come to an end to erase form the minds of the citizenry this picture of policemen depicted as vultures," the memorandum stated.

The WPD chief issued the directive following an exposé by Councilor Juan Miguel Cuna that a number of unscrupulous Manila policemen refer bodies of crime victims to certain funeral parlors for a commission.

Cuna said that such a pratice is deplorable because it further burdens bereaved families.

The alderman said many of his constituents had complained to him that they were charged very high fees by funeral parlors to cover the commissions collected by the policemen.

Cuna has filed a resolution with the City Council seeking an investigation of the illegal practice.

It was learned that when a murder or homicide case is reported to the police, funeral parlors are immediately tipped off by their contacts in the police station. There were even instances when funeral parlor agents arrived at the crime scene ahead of the law enforcers.

Pasinos said that all Manila policemen should cut their connections with funeral parlors or he would personally work for their relief.

He said the primary duty of policemen is to protect the public against abuses so he would not tolerate this illegal practice. – Cecille Suerte Felipe