Acorda: No public shaming of ‘erring cops’

MANILA, Philippines — There will be no public humiliation of police officers who are accused of infractions under the term of newly designated Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr.

At his first press conference as the country’s new top cop last Tuesday, Acorda, who will retire on Dec. 3, called on police commanders to treat their personnel as a member of their family.

Likening officials to parents, he advised police officials to not shame in public their subordinates who are suspected to have committed mistakes.

“It’s like if you’re a mother or a father, if you’re going to spank your child, don’t humiliate him before the public,” Acorda said in Filipino.

“If the subordinate needs to be jailed, then let’s have him jailed, whether he is a family,” he added.

Having headed the PNP Directorate for Intelligence and the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group, Acorda is familiar with police officers suspected to be involved in illegal activities.

While he did not give a ballpark figure, Acorda said there are only a few misfits within the 228,000-strong PNP.

“There are still a lot more good cops, and I want the people to know that,” he said.

There were previous PNP chiefs who have humiliated police officers in front of journalists who were caught sleeping while on duty.

Acorda’s predecessor, former PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr., also did not berate police officers believed to have committed mistakes in public.

Acorda said he would be transparent with members of the media, saying what the police are doing should be made known to the public.

He also urged everyone to change an old mindset: from “for evil to succeed is for man to do nothing” to “do good things to defeat evil.”

Cleaning house

With issues affecting the integrity of the country’s police organization, Sen. Ramon Revilla, Jr. challenged Acorda to prioritize “cleaning the house” to ensure transparency and accountability.

Revilla was referring to reports that some PNP members have apparently become subservient to politicians and political interests.

“Chief PNP Acorda needs to fix the institution first. And we are one with him in this. He admitted that the bad elements should be weeded out immediately and held accountable. There are only a few bad cops in the organization and they should not be allowed to cause more destruction,” the senator said.

During the hearings conducted by the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs chaired by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa on the assassination of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo, Revilla said there were testimonies that some members of the PNP have apparently become subservient to politicians and political interests, which struck a heavy blow to the national police force.

Revilla said another issue would be the upcoming inquiry of the same committee into the alleged cover-up of the P6.7-billion drug operation last year, where then police officer M/Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr. was arrested.

The PNP assured senators that all measures are in place in its efforts to rid its ranks of scalawags.

“We welcome the senators’ expression of support for our sincere actions to maintain the highest standard of transparency and accountability in the police service,” the PNP said.

To reinforce the preventive aspect of its internal disciplinary systems, the Internal Affairs Service and the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group shall lead the way in early detection and active counter-intelligence to identify red flags and deny further deviancy.

36 cops face relief

Meanwhile, the 36 third-level officials who were recommended by the five-man advisory panel to undergo further evaluation by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) could face relief from their posts while the process is ongoing.

In an interview aired over dzBB radio yesterday, the panel’s spokesman, PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Redrico Maranan, said relieving the police officials were among the recommendations of the advisory committee.

He added that the review committee would submit its recommendations on the 36 police officials to the Napolcom.

A total of 917 PNP officials were recommended by the panel not to have their courtesy resignations accepted.

Maranan said the advisory committee on Tuesday submitted its report on the 917 police officials.

Conflicting stories

PNP officials involved in the raid that yielded 990 kilos of shabu in Tondo in October last year gave conflicting statements on the arrest of suspects and seizure of the illegal substance, which infuriated lawmakers, according to a lawmaker.

Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, a retired police general who is also a lawyer, gave a friendly advice to PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) director Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo for giving them varying timelines.

The PDEG conducted the October 2022 Tondo raid.

“Why put the blame on us? I just want to tell Gen. Domingo that the report on timelines came from you. It didn’t come from us. You must remember that when you are a commander, the phrase command responsibility is automatically attached on you,” Acop said during yesterday’s hearing at the House of Representatives.

“All the things that your men will do or will not do – you are responsible. That is the essence of command responsibility. So don’t gripe over it. This is all part of the service,” he added.

Acop’s remarks, along with those of Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, came after the conflicting statements of PDEG’s Col. Julian Olonan and Capt. Jonathan Sosongco, head of the PDEG SOU 4A raiding team.

It was learned that the 990 kilos of shabu were found in a vault inside WPD Lending office owned by Mayo, located along A. Bonifacio Street in Tondo, Manila.

Acop, a former police investigator, noticed that there was not even a report of a laboratory.

Double cover-up

The Department of the Interior and Local Government, which has direct supervision over the PNP, should investigate reports that cops in the P6.7-billion shabu haul may be guilty of “double cover-up and double recycling.”

Barbers earlier disclosed that this has been the observation in the said drug raid that resulted in the seizure of 990 kilos of shabu.

Documents and video footage have shown that the first cover up “transpired when officers from the PNP Drug Enforcement Group tried but failed to come up with a scheme to free Mayo Jr. to be used in a follow-up drug sting operation in Pasig City.”

“The second cover-up attempt was when two officers from the PNP-DEG Special Operations Unit 4a – P/SMS Jerrywin Robosura and P/SMS Lorenzo Catarata – were captured in a CCTV footage loading into a white car two black bags containing shabu,” Barbers said. –  Cecille Suerte Felipe, Delon Porcalla