“The creation of not just an independent IAS but what amounts to a Truth Commission to look at extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration is a step in the right direction”
IT’S an idea whose time has come.
We still recall the recent statement by a retired police official who had stirred a hornet’s nest with his candid statement that the Philippine National Police has become the biggest criminal organization in the country, particularly during the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs.
Too candid, perhaps, for his own good. But we think it’s a statement that’s just what the doctor ordered for the good of the PNP, which really needs to weed out the rogues in uniform who give the entire institution a very bad name.
We therefore think the House quad committee’s recommendation for the creation of an independent Internal Affairs Service is worth serious consideration by the national leadership—and soon.
The House quad committee is on the right track in pushing this recommendation as we believe this would go a long way in making the entire PNP truly serve and protect the people, not abuse or oppress them.
While we believe the majority of the men and women comprising the police force are dedicated to their jobs and adhere to the straight and narrow, a handful do stray from the norm and commit not just simple violation of internal rules of discipline but even become criminals themselves.
That the police are doing their job of maintaining peace and order in our communities is evident in the way they respond to crime situations reported to them.
Television footage, for instance, show that police responders are able to track down snatchers and other criminals, petty and otherwise, after hot pursuit operations.
It helps that those barangays with closed-circuit TV units installed in their areas allow police stations to identify and arrest perpetrators in no time at all.
But while those who do well in their job as law enforcers should be commended and promoted, those who run afoul of the law deserve to be censured and made to face the music.
The Internal Affairs Service or IAS is the nation’s lead agency in the campaign against all forms of misconduct in the PNP.
Since its creation in 1998, the Service, as a recommendatory body, has conducted independent and impartial investigations concerning the police force.
Under Republic Act 8551, the 1998 law that reorganized the force, the PNP chief is given the power to reverse or modify IAS decisions, “effectively undermining the integrity and finality of IAS rulings.”
“The current system’s inability to pursue accountability at the highest levels perpetuates a culture of untouchability among senior officers,” the committee said in its 51-page report.
“An independent IAS with the authority and mandate to investigate and prosecute high-ranking officials is essential to dismantling this culture,” it added.
In a recent quad committee hearing, the IAS reported that 99.17 percent of cases involving 8,351 civilian deaths during police operations led to the exoneration of the PNP personnel involved.
Out of the 32,803 policemen accused of wrongdoing in connection with 7,103 operations during the Duterte administration (from 2016 to 2022), only 30 officers were dismissed from the service.
This dismal record of the IAS speaks volumes about its capability to render impartial judgment on cases of erring police personnel.
The quad committee also called for the creation of an Inter-Agency Council on extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other grave violations of the right to life, liberty and security of persons.
The council, the committee said, “would serve as an independent, transparent, and highly specialized inter-agency body tasked with investigating allegations of extrajudicial killings, particularly those attributed to state and nonstate actors, law enforcement personnel, and other government-linked individuals.”
According to the panel, this council should be composed of the Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation, PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Bureau of Corrections and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (for killings committed within jails and national penitentiaries), Bureau of Immigration (for killings of foreign nationals), and the Commission on Human Rights.
The creation of not just an independent IAS but what amounts to a Truth Commission to look at extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration is a step in the right direction, and should be supported by the national government.
(Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)
