EDITORIAL - Lawmen, lawbreakers

Of seven persons of interest in the murders of beauty pageant contestant Geneva Lopez and her Israeli fiancé Yitshak Cohen, two are former members of the Philippine National Police. The two were presented to the media as suspects yesterday by the PNP. Probers said the victims were apparently murdered because they were trying to collect debt owed them by one of the suspects, with land used as collateral.

In too many heinous crimes, cops – retired, AWOL or in the active service – have been implicated. Cops, including members of the elite Special Action Force, have also been caught providing unauthorized special security service to Philippine offshore gaming operator executives.

There have always been rotten eggs in the police force, implicated in a wide range of illegal activities from corruption to organized crime and murder. Cops have been linked to the disappearance and suspected execution of 34 online cockfighting aficionados between 2021 and 2022. Even PNP chiefs have been charged with graft, starting with the first, Cesar Nazareno. He died in 2006, five years before nine of his co-defendants, all former PNP officers, were convicted of graft in connection with the P38.2-million ghost purchase of combat uniforms and equipment.

Apart from excising the rot, there have also been efforts to tighten PNP recruitment processes and requirements. Despite such efforts along with continuing purges, however, there has been no end to stories about cops using their knowledge of the ways of law enforcement to break the law. Police officers have been tagged as organizers of crime rings engaged in kidnapping for ransom, carjacking and drug trafficking, and even in the founding of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group.

The purges are possible for those in the active service, but what about those who have left the PNP? They have personal information on file with the PNP, which can be used to keep track of their whereabouts. The PNP can also tighten its rules on gun ownership among its members who have been dishonorably discharged, or who face criminal and even administrative complaints.

The certainty of being caught and punished is a major deterrent to the criminally minded. At least the suspected murderers of Lopez and Cohen have been caught. But the case also highlights the need for intensified housecleaning in the PNP.