EDITORIAL - Partners in reform

Be the partners of the administration “in burying the rotten system,” President Aquino urged new graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy last week. If he means this, he might want to give PNPA alumni a shot at more key positions in the PNP. These officers are trained for police work, especially criminal investigation, rather than for national defense and neutralizing enemies of the state, which are the tasks of the military.

The PNPA is supposed to be the source of the officer corps of the PNP. Since its creation two decades ago, however, the PNP leadership has almost completely been monopolized by PMA alumni. These “PMAyers” were with the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police when it was abolished to pave the way for the creation of a civilian national police force in the early 1990s.

The PMA alumni, however, were trained for military service rather than civilian police work. A number of the senior officers cut their teeth in the PC-Metropolitan Command or Metrocom, which was better known as an enforcer of Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law regime than for efficient criminal investigation.

That constabulary mindset permeated the PNP from its creation. The new organization gained notoriety not only for taking shortcuts in law enforcement through human rights violations but also for corruption. The first PNP chief, a PMAyer, was charged with corruption over an alleged overpriced deal for the acquisition of guns. In subsequent years the PNP struggled to dispel public perceptions of corruption and incompetence, with the job made harder by the involvement of some cops in organized crime.

There’s no guarantee that products of the PNPA will be any better than the PMAyers who were absorbed into the PNP, but the only way to know this is by giving PNPA officers a chance to shine. President Aquino, who won on a reform platform, should encourage this shift and assess the results.