Nightlife cops feel the heat

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said yesterday operatives will continue inspecting nightspots in Quezon City and other parts of Metro Manila as part of a continuing campaign against policemen frequenting nightclubs and bars.

PNP Directorate for Police Community Relations chief Director Ricardo de Leon said the crackdown on policemen frequenting nightclubs will continue until they get the message that "it is better to go to family-oriented entertainment places instead of bars."

"Why not go to malls or other places where you can bring your wife and children along?" asked De Leon.

He said that in order to add teeth to the PNP directive barring lawmen from entering funhouses with girlie shows, police commanders will have to directly answer for their men who are caught patronizing such establishments.

"Their commanders or immediate superiors will have to directly answer for their actions by virtue of command responsibility," De Leon said.

As such, commanders will have to share the same degree of punishment as their club-going men.

Under PNP Memorandum Circular 2000-009, or the amendment on the ban on drinking in public places and prohibition from indulging in cockfighting, erring police personnel can be charged with less grave misconduct while the immediate superior of the erring personnel will be charged for neglect of duty under the principle of command responsibility.

According to De Leon, if found guilty of committing such an offense, the erring police personnel could risk being suspended or even being dismissed from the police service.

Under the circular which was issued on June 19, 2000, police personnel are prohibited from drinking in nightclubs, beer joints, disco pubs, betting in cockpits and other similar places while in uniform; bearing firearms whether or not in uniform; or during office hours or while on duty, except in cases where their presence is required by official duties as authorized by appropriate letter orders.

De Leon however stressed that even police personnel considered as off-duty are also covered by the circular.

Bottle Probe

Meanwhile, De Leon said the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) under Director Rolando Garcia, has now started verifying the identities of policemen frequenting nightclubs based on the names pasted on liquor bottles left for safekeeping at these nightspots.

On Monday night, PNP chief, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane personally led an inspection team and swooped down on Classmate and Mystique nightclubs along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City.

The inspection came in the wake of an order made by the President earlier that day in Camp Crame which urged the PNP to cleanse its ranks of policemen frequenting nightclubs.

Ebdane was hoping to catch policemen-customers inside, However, no policemen were caught inside the two clubs.

The raid led to the discovery of several bottles at Mystique with the names of supposedly policemen-clients pasted on them. Among the names found were that of Col. Vero, Col. Ruiz, Col. Sosa, Capt. Popoy, Capt. Taniel, Capt. Reyes, Sgt. Caballos Sgt. Samson and Sgt. Dinna.

De Leon, however, admitted that it would be very difficult to verify the identities of the policemen.

"Your name appearing in a bottle is not enough to warrant the filing of charges. Some could use your name or some could use aliases," he said.

According to PNP public information chief Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has also started its probe, saying policemen frequenting nightspots in Metro Manila could also be detailed there.

Yesterday, the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) conducted a check of the Alpha List of the NCRPO. The Alpha List contains the names and ranks of the 15,000 members of the NCRPO.

According to Senior Superintendent Victor Boco, DPRM executive officer, a check of the list when compared with the names on the bottle labels showed that there were two surnamed Sosa, 16 surnamed Ruiz, including a chief inspector (major) but no captains; 13 surnamed Samson; 13 surnamed Reyes. There were no officers surnamed Taniel in the list. It was also found out that the ranks of the names on the bottle labels did not match the ranks of the names in the Alpha List.

It could be possible that they have used fictitious names to evade detection, said Bataoil.

He admittted the process of verification could prove to be very tedious.

Bataoil also said the crackdown will also include policemen acting as bouncers for these clubs and policemen acting as bodyguards for some politicians. – With Non Alquitran, Katherine Adraneda