PNPA committed lapses in beating incident — Probe

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) committed lapses in the handling of an incident where six new graduates with the rank of inspector were seriously beaten and injured, according to the results of a probe by the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) made public yesterday.

National Police College director and board of inquiry (BOI) head Romeo Magsalos said PNPA authorities did not immediately initiate actions against the cadets who beat up six members of the Maragtas Class of 2018 last March 21.

“There was a failure of the authorities from the PNPA to effect arrest and cause inquest proceeding of the perpetrators,” Magsalos said in a news briefing at Camp Crame yesterday afternoon.

PPSC president Ricardo de Leon directed a seven-man investigating panel to submit their recommendation not later than April 2.

The BOI’s recommendation will determine if there should be policy changes to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future.

They also found out in their investigation that the PNPA lacks the necessary number of tactical officers to monitor the cadets’ activities in the academy.

Currently, only four tactical officers manage over 700 cadets at the PNPA, way below the ideal number of 20.

The absence of security guards in the dormitories might have also allowed the incident to happen, according to Magsalos.

The results of the probe revealed that guards were denied access to the dormitories, thus the activities of students after class could not be monitored.