PNP’s Internal Affairs Service should be quasi-judicial – Poe

MANILA, Philippines - In order to improve efforts to remove scalawags and other undesirables from the Philippine National Police, Sen. Grace Poe said yesterday she wants the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS) made into a quasi-judicial body.

Senate Bill 2506, filed by Poe, seeks to amend Republic Acts 6975, the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998; and 6975, or the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990.

Poe said the IAS, although conceived to be part of the PNP, was envisioned to be an independent unit with the mandate of exercising disciplinary authority over members of the PNP.

“However, as presently constituted, the IAS has no authority to impose disciplinary sanctions against erring PNP personnel. The authority of the IAS is limited to making recommendations, which are subject to the review and approval of the PNP chief or the PNP regional directors,” Poe said.

Poe said she saw strengthening the IAS as a way to weed out the bad elements of the PNP.

“It enhances the independence of the IAS from the PNP hierarchy by granting it the authority to impose disciplinary sanctions against erring PNP personnel, subject only to review, in limited cases, by the National Police Commission,” Poe said.