Intrigues in PNP worse than showbiz - Jovit Moya

They say intrigues and gossip abound in show business but according to this police officer, it is much worse in law enforcement.

Meet Inspector Jovit Moya, the actor who once played the devil who is now playing good guy for keeps.

"As a child I had always dreamed of becoming a policeman. It is a dream come true," he said. Moya has played villains in such movies as Black Magic starring Dolphy and Wag mong Buhayin ang Bangkay, among others. He was also a former mainstay of the now defunct teenage variety show That's Entertainment.

But if there is anything that makes law enforcement no different from show business, said Moya, it is the intrigues and two other aspects.

"I thought it (intrigue) was already bad in showbiz but I found out that it is worse in the police," he told The STAR in an interview before reports on his trouble with some of his arrested suspects began to circulate. "Kung matindi ang intrigahan sa showbiz mas tsismoso pala ang mga pulis (If intrigues are bad in show business, lawmen are worse rumormongers."

As an actor, Moya had been rumored to be a drug addict. He is presently facing charges of illegal arrest. Other similarities, he said, would be the unpredictability of the working hours and the "action."

"In both careers you don't always get to sleep much... There is also lots of action but unlike in showbiz there is nobody who at anytime shouts 'cut,'" he said, referring to movie directors.

But being a movie actor also has its disadvantages.

"In one instance while I was serving a warrant to this woman, she just looked at me and did not want to believe me. When I finally convinced her that the warrant was genuine and she should come with us, she kept on looking around. I asked her why and she told me that she could be in a practical joke show."

"Now that I'm a policeman, I realize that there are more good cops than bad cops. The bad policemen are only the ones being given more attention," he said. Actually, Moya has been a cop for the last six years.

"In 1992, I told my fellow artists that I was going abroad but actually I was in Laguna training in the academy," he revealed. Moya said he later joined the Aviation and Security Group before becoming an aide-de-camp of former Philippine National Police (PNP) director General Santiago Aliño.

It was only in November last year that Moya became a member of Manila's Finest. He is presently under Superintendent Elmer Jamias of the Binondo police command. Coincidentally, Jamias has himself played bit roles in some movies.

Until the recent bad reports about him, however, Moya has always lain-low in his preferred career. It's not that easy being a former actor.

"There was one time at the airport, when a veteran actress saw me and was surprised to see me in a police uniform," Moya narrated. "When she asked if I was a policeman I just told her that I was shooting a movie."

As much as possible also, he doesn't reveal his new career whenever he comes across his former fellow actors.

Moya, though, does not hide that he entertains thoughts of becoming the chief of the PNP in the future.