EDITORIAL - Abolish this task force

What’s so special about the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force? The way some police officers are acting, it appears that commanding the unit once headed by Director General Panfilo Lacson is considered a plum posting. Reports said Chief Superintendent Florencio Fianza, whose son was arrested by the task force last year and charged with carnapping, barged into the task force’s headquarters at Camp Crame even before the smoke of EDSA II had cleared, wanting to take over the elite unit. He backed off when it became clear that he didn’t have any orders from President Arroyo or the officer who replaced Lacson, Deputy Director General Leandro Mendoza.

The task force is the expanded, more powerful version of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, which Fidel Ramos created during his administration and gave to his chief crimebuster who happened to be his vice president, Joseph Estrada. During its existence, the PACC became notorious for the Kuratong Baleleng case and the involvement of some of its officers in ransom kidnappings. In the final days of the Ramos administration, the PACC was disbanded to Estrada’s great distress.

When he assumed power, Estrada had to wait a year before he could appoint his favorite cop as chief of the Philippine National Police. Lacson and his boys first had to be cleared of criminal charges stemming from the Kuratong Baleleng case. In the meantime, Estrada revived the PACC and renamed it the PAOCTF. As expected, Lacson was named PAOCTF commander.

From its creation it became clear that the task force was the real command center of the PNP. It had the biggest intelligence budget in the organization, the best logistics, the pick of the best cases to handle. When the Ombudsman dismissed the Kuratong Baleleng case, Lacson finally assumed command of the PNP. But the PAOCTF was retained, becoming the favorite unit of both Estrada and the PNP chief.
Now the two men are gone, and the task force that served as their fiefdom should go as well. The functions of the task force merely duplicate those of other law enforcement units. Resentment of the perks enjoyed by task force members contributed to Lacson’s downfall, and continuing those perks will merely cause divisiveness and demoralization in the ranks. Instead of giving special treatment to one unit, the new PNP leadership should push for the modernization and pro-fessionalization of the entire police force. It’s time to abolish the PAOCTF for good. And during its final days, don’t let Fianza get anywhere near it.