Obey orders, PNP brass tells PAOCTF men

A top official of the Philippine National Police (PNP) urged some 200 former members of the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) to obey orders before complaining about their impending transfer to far-flung assignments.

Director Jose Lalisan Jr., chief of the national police’s directorate for personnel and records management, warned that officers who refuse to report to their new assignments face disciplinary action.

Lalisan took exception to statements made by one affected officer, Chief Inspector Arturo Bisnar, who complained about the reassignments in a national television interview last Monday.

"He should not resort to that," Lalisan said. "If they have problems or conflicts, these could be threshed out at the proper forum."

Last Monday, the affected officers filed appeals before the National Police Commission and the Civil Service Commission questioning the legality of their reassignments.

They earlier wrote to President Arroyo, asking for her intervention.

They claimed the PNP leadership deprived them of due process when they were ordered on Nov. 8 to Mindanao and far-flung assignments.

The officers claimed they were reassigned on orders from Malacañang because they were perceived to have ties with their former boss, opposition lawmaker Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who once headed the task force.

Lalisan, who signed the reassignment orders, said the transfers were routine.

The reassignments followed rumors that Lacson and fellow oppositionist Sen. Gregorio Honasan urged active military officers to launch a coup. Lacson and Honasan – both allies of deposed President Joseph Estrada – denied the allegations.

The affected officers maintained they were loyal to the institution and said they did not want to be reassigned to areas far from family.