PNP junior officers lambast general’s ‘early’ promotion

Junior officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) assailed yesterday certain Malacañang officials for alleged lobbying for the premature promotion of a senior police official, saying the move generated rumbling and listlessness in the ranks.

The officers, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, said some Palace officials were applying pressure to secure the promotion of police Director Clyde Fernandez, director of the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime (PCTC), to three-star rank less than six months after he got his second star.

"We have absolutely nothing personal against Director Fernandez," the officers said. "We have high regard for his integrity and professional competence."

What they resent, the sources said, were attempts to violate the "time-honored promotion system just to please some influence peddlers."

As a three-star police general, Fernandez would be pre-positioned for the post of Deputy Director General with the forthcoming turnover of command when PNP Director General Leandro Mendoza officially retires.

Incumbent Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. is a likely successor of Mendoza.

"Another promotion in so short a time is a mockery of the Rules and Qualification Standards that was set forth by the Civil Service Commission and the National Police Commission," the officers said.

The sources also pointed out that Fernandez is way below in the PNP hierarchy list, being number 13 out of 18 senior police officials.

They asserted that Fernandez need not have three stars on his shoulders while sitting as chief of the PCTC.

"Unless, of course, he is being groomed this early for a higher post," they said.

They claimed that attempts to circumvent the traditional promotion system were causing demoralization in the ranks.

"This is not helping the institution at all. What we are trying to do is build a more cohesive and more effective PNP," the sources said.

They noted that rumors of destabilization persist partly because of power plays in the executive department.