EDITORIAL - Long road to professionalism

The Philippine National Police celebrated its 22nd anniversary yesterday as several of its members were under restrictive custody on suspicion that they summarily executed 13 men in Quezon last Jan. 6. In Pasay City, meanwhile, two police officers were arrested last Sunday on charges that they extorted P15,000 from a woman who also said she was raped by one of the officers.

The woman was seeking the release of her partner who was apprehended for urinating in public, and then allegedly framed for drug possession. The two police officers will have their day in court, but the woman’s story is not uncommon, and many such claims have turned out to be true.

Such shakedown activities, combined with the many other criminal acts attributed to police personnel, continue to tarnish the image of the PNP and deter public cooperation in law enforcement. The image of the police has improved since martial law, when the Marcos dictatorship used state forces in the systematic violation of human rights. But the PNP continues to suffer from the activities of the rotten eggs in the organization.

It is noteworthy that the two Pasay cops, Police Officers 1 Jonathan Castro and Marvin Panaga, were quickly arrested by their colleagues. The PNP has many dedicated men and women who serve the public with competence and honesty, who are ready to put their lives on the line, even with limited resources, to keep people safe. These are the police officers who give the PNP reason to celebrate on its 22nd anniversary. But the road to professionalism is long and tortuous. The PNP needs to sustain its purge of misfits and pursue reforms.