Even PNP K-9 corps rocked by corruption

Police are hoping to bolster their K-9 force in the battle against terrorism, but with the express hope that even dogs will be spared from scandal this time.

"We are hoping that this time corruption will not mar the project, with the money intended for the purpose utilized to the fullest," a ranking police official said on condition of anonymity.

The official disclosed that the government is earmarking millions of pesos for the purchase of additional bomb-sniffing dogs for the Philippine National Police (PNP) in addition to its current canine inventory.

The police official lamented that the present batch of K-9 members, when subjected to a skills evaluation test last week, turned out to be unprepared for their duties.

He added that the dogs, which when bought from a private supplier were supposed to be trained in detecting bombs, could not detect traces of explosives and most dogs assigned to anti-narcotics duties could not detect traces of illegal drugs.

"For sure some people out there made money out of these purchases of our K-9 units. I hope this time, they go for the best dogs under the terms of ‘what you see is what you get’," he said.

Aside from these purchases, the official suggested that the PNP leadership should tap the assistance of the Labrador Handlers Association, a private group most of whose members have already expressed willingness to lend to the police their bomb-trained sniffing dogs.

"Terror threats are for real. If the deadly blasts happened in Zamboanga, Kidapawan in Mindanao and in Manado, Indonesia, there’s no guarantee that it could not happen here in (Metro) Manila," he said.

The PNP officials added that while policemen and other law enforcement units are now on full alert, all these efforts will be useless without the deployment of well trained canines which can sniff bombs unlike their human counterparts.

The PNP has in its current inventory a couple of K-9 units each assigned to the Aviation Security Group (ASG), the Narcotics Group, the Special Action Force (SAF), the Caloocan and Makati police special weapons and tactics, and the Maritime Group.

Meanwhile, the intelligence community in Southeast Asian countries is meeting this month in the island state of Singapore to further bolster preparedness in dealing with the threats posed by al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah in the region.

Intelligence exchanges have been in effect among Asean police forces since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States following reports that al-Qaeda is eyeing the region as its new terror base after the allied bombing of Afghanistan.