EDITORIAL - Depraved

Anyone who engages in depravity has no business being in law enforcement. So it’s good that three cadets of the Philippine National Police Academy are under investigation and may be kicked out in connection with accusations of sexual abuse involving two neophytes. Chief Superintendent Joseph Adnol was also sacked as PNPA superintendent due to the scandal.

One of the three cadets under investigation is reportedly the son of a PNP general. This inevitably raises the question of what the father has imparted to the son on the role of a police officer. On Oct. 6, a senior cadet allegedly ordered the two newcomers to perform oral sex on each other as two other upperclassmen watched, as punishment for an unspecified offense. Such behavior even before becoming a PNP officer can easily progress into worse human rights violations, such as “salvaging” or summary execution or the rape of an arrested suspect’s daughter.

Last March during PNPA graduation rites, six fourth year cadets were also critically injured after being beaten by dozens of cadets, nine of whom have been recommended for dismissal. The suspects reportedly wanted to get back at the victims for the maltreatment inflicted in the past years by the graduating class on the lowerclassmen.

It is unclear if the two cadets in the latest incident were victims of hazing or initiation rites, for which a new law imposes harsh punishment. Even if the incident does not fall under the Anti-Hazing Law, however, there are other laws against such abuse. And there has to be enough rules in the PNP and PNPA to prevent the accused cadets from entering the police service if their guilt is established. A career in law enforcement cannot be launched with a gross violation of the law.