EDITORIAL — Connections over capability

Senior Superintendent Joel Alvarez is not the first person to complain about the system of promotions and assignments in the Philippine National Police. A few weeks ago, Karina David lamented that recommendations of the Civil Service Commission, which she chaired for seven years, on PNP appointments and promotions were routinely ignored by Malacañang.

Similar complaints were also aired during the Marcos regime, when the PNP was still called the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police. The complaints were loudest in the military, where the martial law regime institutionalized promotions and assignments based on who rather than what an officer knew.

Disgruntled soldiers struck back by starting a reformist movement and eventually participating in the peaceful revolt that toppled the dictatorship. But the end of the Marcos regime did not spell the end of favoritism and political interference in military and police promotions and assignments.

Senior Superintendent Alvarez, director for operations of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, was making noises about promotions in the PNP that were not vetted by the Senior Officers Placement and Promotions Board. So he was offered a carrot: the post of Camarines Sur provincial director, with his appointment also not passing through the promotions board. Alvarez turned down the new posting.

This was one officer who declined what is regarded as a promotion. How many others have learned over the years to simply go along with the system, accepting the reality that in the PNP, competence is not enough?

As in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, where there have been efforts in recent years to insulate the organization from politics, the biggest hindrance to reform efforts in the PNP are political leaders themselves. It’s not just Malacañang that wants full control of police promotions and appointments; lawmakers also want to have their say. Then there are the local government executives who also want control over cops even if the PNP stopped being a local force a long time ago. 

With so many personalities wanting to exert influence on promotions and assignments in the PNP and AFP, the promotions board becomes a farce. Change is possible in this rotten system, but only with the cooperation of the political leadership.