Senator Loren Legarda encouraged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to allay the public’s qualms on law enforcers’ ability to keep peace and order in the country and regain the people’s full confidence in the police force.
During the second hearing for the proposed 2018 budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the agency that supervises the PNP, Legarda stressed the need to address the issue of erring cops and officials who taint the image of the police.
“We support the war against illegal drugs, but the police must show restraint in conducting police operations in order to safeguard innocent Filipinos, especially children, who are treated as collateral damage. There should be thorough investigation on the deaths caused by police,” Legarda said.
“Many of our cops are good people, but the few police scalawags stain the integrity of the entire organization. The PNP needs to do something with those cops among its ranks who have the tendency to abuse their power. The police must uphold its sworn duty to serve and protect our people and our country,” Legarda said.
PNP Chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa assured the Senator that measures are being undertaken to resolve these issues, such as the relief order of the entire Caloocan City police, which has recently been alleged of various cases of police abuse. They will undergo a 45-day retraining and reorientation program.
Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said that the PNP should also spend its budget judiciously and expeditiously, especially in procuring equipment that would strengthen their capacity to fight crime.
The PNP committed to obligate its 100 million-peso budget for their National Operations Center. The said amount is a continuing appropriation from its 2016 budget and will expire by the end of the year if unobligated.
“We support the funding needs of the police because we want the crime rate to go down; we want a state-of-the-art PNP command center where we can see what is happening in different parts of Metro Manila and eventually in the whole country; we want an efficient, well-equipped police force to protect us,” Legarda concluded. | Senate
