426 cops charged over raids – PNP

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 426 police officers are facing charges in connection with raids and other anti-crime operations but the Philippine National Police (PNP) does not have enough lawyers to handle the workload, an official said yesterday.

The PNP views the charges – harassment, trespassing and robbery extortion – as meant to harass the police officers, who are presumed to be innocent and performing their regular duties, PNP Legal Service (LS) spokesperson Superintendent Lyra Stella Valera said.   

“More policemen are now vulnerable to such administrative cases because lawmen are more active in anti-crime operations like the Oplan Lambat-Sibat,” she said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.

PNP-LS records show that 202 police officers were charged in 2015 compared to 82 in 2014 and 24 in 2013. There are still 118 cases filed before 2013 that have yet to be resolved.

Valera said the 426 cases are being handled by only 100 police officer-lawyers under the PNP-LS.

“We may not have sufficient number of lawyer-policemen, the Legal Service is doing its best to defend policemen troubled by administrative or harassment cases. We were able to clear the name of a number of policemen,” Valera said but could not provide figures.

She called on lawyers to consider applying with the PNP. A lawyer who enters the police service has a starting rank of Senior Inspector with a gross pay of P50,000, she said.

While Valera admitted that private practice is “very lucrative,” she said being a PNP lawyer is fulfilling “since you will be given a chance to render a great service to the country’s 160,000 police officers.”