Good cop, bad cop

The killing of retired Hanjin executive and Korean national Jee Ick-joo is an indication of how bad the situation has become in the Philippine National Police and just how deeply embedded corruption is among the ranks.

The revelations made by Senator Ping Lacson about the excesses committed by some members of the PNP – as seen in a CCTV footage that showed several men in civilian clothes planting “evidence” in an office prior to the arrival of a “raiding team” – shows how complex this whole drug menace is and that it has become intertwined with other criminal activities like kidnap for ransom, extortion and even murder.

While we are not totally arguing against President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against illegal drugs – especially because many heinous crimes such as rape and murder even of very young children have been committed by persons under the influence of drugs – the “all-out war” conducted by the government is being used by rogue cops as an opportunity to enrich themselves, using police operations to go after targets whether legitimate or not.

People are very appalled at the gruesome details surrounding the murder of the Korean national whose head was wrapped in packaging tape before he was strangled with a wire – swift, vicious and efficient – with the person who did the killing obviously a professional. Worse, the murder happened right in the very backyard of PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa – a seriously disturbing detail that indicates the sense of impunity these criminal cops have.

The revelations have obviously shocked even the president who personally expressed his apology to Korean Ambassador Kim Jae-Shin (during the switch-on ceremony of Alsons Power’s baseload plant in Sarangani), telling the audience that the identity of the perpetrators are now known, and that they will be punished with the full extent of the law. It was just too bad that the death penalty has been put on hold in the Philippines, the president remarked – leaving in no uncertain terms that it is the punishment that the rogue cops deserved for the gruesome crime.

The assertion of the Philippine National Police that Jee Ick-joo’s case is an “isolated” one has since been disproved by revelations of additional “tokhang for ransom” cases by Tessie Ang See of the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order that show a similar modus operandi, where a group of policemen conducts a raid and abducts the target, after which a demand for ransom is given to family members for the release of the victim.

It’s not just Koreans who are targeted but mostly wealthy Chinese – one of whom was released after his brother from Mainland China flew in carrying cash because his family in the Philippines did not have enough money to cover the demand for ransom. The fact is, “tokhang for ransom” is not really new – it is just another name for “KFR” or kidnap for ransom, “hulidap” (wherein a target is apprehended for a trumped up criminal violation to extort money from him) and other similar money-making schemes by bad cops all these years.

Unfortunately, the government’s declaration of an all-out war against illegal drugs has given these rogue cops an opportunity to use police operations as a cover for their moneymaking activities. Obviously, these policemen are abusing the trust of the president who has repeatedly given his assurance to stand by his men – and what is happening now is a demonstration of the kind of abuses that could happen when cops are given almost full “carte blanche” as far as the illegal drugs campaign is concerned.

This is the same kind of concern that several foreign governments as well as the United Nations have expressed regarding potential abuses of human rights. Let’s face it – human nature is such that when people are given power, there is the temptation to abuse, much more so when it is the kind that gives one the “power of life and death.”

Clearly, the president and the PNP top hierarchy have to reassess the way the police have been conducting these anti-illegal drugs raids and operations because there is a great possibility that they are being used by the corrupt to either enrich themselves or get rid of people who could implicate them in the illegal drugs business and other criminal activities.

Just as President Duterte wants to go hard after drug pushers (and even pirates and terrorists), he should go doubly harder against the bad cops who are using the government’s campaign to commit criminal activities or worse, sabotaging the genuine efforts of the good cops to eradicate criminality in the country and eliminate corruption within the ranks of the PNP.

The worst kind of crime is conducted not by a lawless person who uses his gun to commit crimes, but by a policeman who uses the power of his office and his gun to commit crimes against the very people he is supposed to protect. In fact not too long ago, a young woman was raped by her employer – but what was totally disgusting was when the police officer who was called to investigate the case proceeded to rape the woman himself, in the precinct. Such an act is simply despicable. This can be likened to a child who is raped by her own father – the man who is tasked to protect her.

These recent developments and revelations are giving people a very strong perception that there are more bad cops than good cops. The President needs to deliver on his promise to clean up the ranks of the PNP. We can only hope that in the end, the good will win over evil.

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