On his first day as chief of the 195,000-strong police force, Police Director General Oscar Albayalde emphasized the important virtues of discipline, respect, honesty and honor among his lieutenants as he mandated all police recruits to undergo extensive training in honing them the proper traits necessary for a lawmen to fulfill his mission to country and people.
In a press briefing a day after his assumption of office as PNP chief, Albayalde directed all policemen to reject complacency and instead become pro-active regardless which area one is assigned, as he threatened to punish those who would fail to comply with PNP orders.
“How I wish na darating ang panahon na yung pulis natin hindi natiin kailangan utusan, pukpukin sa paglabas niya, pagpasok niya sa kanyang duty, opisina, alam na niya kung ano ang gagawin; kung siya ay beat patroller, kailangan lumabas siya para mag beat patrol. Hindi yung kailangan mag text siya sa isang sulok or nandun lang siya sa isang convenience store na nakiki-wifi,” Albayalde pointed out.
He also encouraged policemen to refrain from acting like robots, or acts only when ordered by a superior, which the new PNP chier said is a betrayal of the internal policies.
“Hindi tayo parang kabayo na kapag hindi pinalo, hindi tatakbo, hindi tayo parang jukebox kapag hindi hinulugan ng piso hindi tutugtog. 'Yan ang gusto natin mangyari,” Albayalde said.
In his first policy directive, Albayalde directed all police recruits who completed the basic recruitment process, to undergo another six-month intensive training with the Special Action Force for them to develop the right attitude and discipline and the will to fight before they can be declared as a full-pledge police officers.
Albayalde, however, said that he sees no reason for falling short, “because this is just a question of attitude.”
“We are in the uniformed service. We have still rules and regulations and policies that must be complied with. You can not avoid to have military training because we operate outside. We have concerns in internal security, we have insurgency problem, problems of terrorism, seccessionist movement, so there’s really a need for a military training. I think this will be able to developed discipline of our policemen and their will to fight,” Albayalde explained.
He recalled having to undergo mandatory ranger training in the Philippine Army at the home base of the the Army’s jungle fighters in Tanay, Rizal shortly after graduating at the Philippine Military Academy which helped hone him and taught him correct morals, proper attitude, discipline, honor, honesty and integrity, that an officer must possess.
“Compared today, although he is a commando trained, but he’s just a driver of a regional director and there’s lot of them and we will remove it. This cannot be,” said Albayalde.
On the aspect of loyalty, Albayalde had emphasized obedience to the organization instead of loyalty to an officer which he said as “the fastest ticket to failure.”
“Loyalty is a question of personal attachment, but we are in a uniformed organization who we expect obedience here. We expect everybody to toe the line and expect everybody to follow the rules and regulations and policies of the organization,” Albayalde said.
He said he will impose and breath discipline twenty-four hours a day and implement reforms in all levels in the PNP.
“First we will show respect both to ourselves and to the public, because genuine public service I believe is anchored on respect. Self respect is what guide our morals as individuals and our collaborative action as an organization—we wear our uniforms properly and with pride, we do not sleep while we are on duty, and we don not betray our oath of office by engaging in illegal activities,” he said.
“If we want to win the trust of the Filipino people who pays our salary—which the President doubled recently—will serve with all honesty, honor and integrity,” he said.