EDITORIAL - A message against the corrupt

Let’s hope all cops were watching when police Senior Superintendent Francisco Ovilla and his men were sentenced the other day. It was not the first time that police officers were sent to prison. But it was the first time that a ranking police official was convicted of accepting bribes. And it was the first time that the offense carried the maximum penalty of death. Ovilla received P650,000 and a Honda Civic car in exchange for the release of two suspects, Jimmy Tan and Randy Koo. Since the two suspects were charged with the capital offense of drug trafficking, the penalty for their alleged crime was what Ovilla received from Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Diosdado Peralta.

Convicted with Ovilla were nine of his men who received a share from the P650,000. All 10 policemen were also sentenced to 12 years in prison for graft. Court records show that Ovilla was commander of the Anonas police station in Quezon City when Tan and Koo were apprehended with 1.5 kilos of shabu in a sting operation on Aug. 22, 1999. Two of Ovilla’s men – Police Office 3 Wilfredo Gonzales and Senior Police Officer 3 Reynato Resurreccion – refused to accept P15,000 each as their share and instead blew the whistle on their commander. Meanwhile, Tan and Koo have disappeared together with all records of their arrest.

Now Ovilla and his men are going to death row – a powerful message that corruption does not pay. The message should be heeded by the Philippine National Police, an organization perceived for many years now as one of the most graft-ridden in the go-vernment. Ovilla and his men are not the first to have freed suspects in exchange for grease money. The practice starts with the lowest ranking cops who direct traffic and mulct from dri-vers instead of apprehending traffic violators. Higher ranking officers turn big-time crooks, including known drug traffickers, gambling lords and white slave traders, into milking cows in exchange for police protection.

With the conviction of Ovilla and his men, the PNP hierarchy should not lose the momentum in ridding the organization of scalawags and misfits. There are more Ovillas out there, commanding police stations and even some major units. They must all be weeded out if the PNP wants to regain public trust.