BELIEVE it or not but an appeal made last week by the hardworking DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. for all PNP 3rd-Level Officers to file their courtesy resignation covered all PNP generals and full-fledged colonels including the so-called Technical Officers who are not in any way involved in actual police anti-drug operations, past and present.

My sources have told me that in reality, those who have aired their reservations about submitting their courtesy resignation to PBBM are 3rd-Level Technical Officers including police lawyers, doctors, nurses and dentists, engineers, forensic and Information Technology experts.

Unlike officers from different PNP Line Units, these officials from the so-called PNP Technical Service really have nothing to do with anti-narcotics operations tainted by accusations of irregularities and other unethical conduct in the past since majority of them were not part of the raiding team, the searching team in particular and during the conduct of follow-up operations.

These are the members of the PNP Health Service, Engineering Service, Forensic Group and the Information Technology Management Service who are performing other jobs not related to anti-drug operations.

Except for some PNP lawyers who join actual police raids on drug laboratories and other major buy-bust operations simply because their legal expertise are sought during the conduct of the operation and in writing official police reports, no other technical officers including engineers, IT or forensic experts and doctors and dentists, I believe, can be seen in these raids.

The directors or the command group of the PNP-HS, ES, FG which is previously known as the Crime Laboratory and the ITMS are not being called to participate in an anti-drug raid.

The same goes with the heads of the different PNP speakers bureau and public relations’ groups as well as other directorial staff officials involved in planning, research and development, finance and logistics, camp security, personnel and records and training too.

The only way any of these officials could have been linked to drugs is during their much younger days-when they were still young Lieutenant, Captains, Majors and Lieutenant Colonels assigned in police stations, districts or regional headquarters and other specialized PNP units.

However, these officials have no way but to heed the appeal of Sec. Abalos and PNP chief, General Jun Azurin to tender their courtesy resignation before PBBM and be subjected to a ‘lifestyle check’ by the 5-Man Committee.

On Friday, Sec. Abalos said that around 95 percent of the 3rd-Level Officers of the PNP headed by Gen. Azurin have already heeded his appeal for them to file their courtesy resignation from the service. He even said that the actual number is 904 out of the total 954.

The DILG chief thanked the PNP 3rd-Level Officers led by General Jun Azurin for giving their trust and confidence on him even as he added that he will make sure that the 5-Man Committee will be composed of persons of integrity, one of them my friend, retired 2-star PNP general-turned Baguio City Mayor Benjie Magalong.

POWERFUL NAPOLCOM

Sec. Abalos however made another new revelation: that the National Police Commission or Napolcom which he chairs and in which Gen. Azurin is an Ex-Officio Commissioner, will also review the cases of officials whose resignation will be accepted by the 5-Man Committee. It means only one thing: the Napolcom will have the final say on whether to fire or retain a particular official once

Under Republic Act 6975, the Napolcom has the power to monitor and investigate police anomalies and irregularities and perform such other functions necessary to carry out the provisions of the said law as amended, other existing laws and presidential issuances and as the President may direct.

It is the agency mandated by the Constitution and the major police reform laws, Republic Act Nos. 6975 and 8551 to administer and control the PNP. Under RA 8551 otherwise known as the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998, the Commission regained the powers to investigate police anomalies and irregularities and to administer police entrance examinations and is granted summary dismissal powers over erring policemen.

The Napolcom actually has the power to ‘affirm, reverse or modify, through the National Appelate Board, personnel administrative actions involving the demotion or dismissal from the service imposed upon members of the PNP by the PNP chief. It also exercises appellate jurisdiction through the Regional Appelate Boards, over administrative cases against policemen and over decisions on claims for police benefits.

Now that Sec. Abalos has revealed what the Napolcom will do on the cases of officials whose resignation will be accepted by the 5-Man Committee, I believe that the DILG-Napolcom leadership will likewise ensure fairness and objectivity on the matter too. Now that he has spilled the beans, Sec. Abalos who has gotten the support of many Filipinos in his effort to cleanse the police force must also do something about concerns raised in the past.

This is because prior to the entry of the Marcos administration, there have been many complaints regarding the presence of rogues in police uniform who were ordered reinstated into the service by the Napolcom for reasons known only to officials of the body who signed the reinstatement papers of the accused.

I still remember that in January 2018, then PNP chief, now Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa said that he had asked then Napolcom vice chairman and executive officer Roger Casurao what is the status of some 67 police officers ordered dismissed by then President Duterte for their purported involvement in drugs and other illegal activities.

Dela Rosa said he asked Attorney Casurao—the official passed away at the age of 66 in January 2021—on the status of the cases of the 67 policemen since PRRD had publicly announced he will dismiss them. The PNP and the Napolcom leaderships however said then they wanted to duly observe due process to prevent the return of the dismissed cops due to technicality.

On that same year, Casurao said that two of the 67 are full-fledged colonels, three are Lieutenant Colonels, one is a Major, two are Captains, one is a Lieutenant and the rest are Police Non-Commissioned Officers. The question is what really happened to the cases of the 67 including the two 3rd-Level Officers? Were they really dismissed from the police service by the Napolcom? Or did they manage to eventually clear their names and get a promotion five years after.

Many of my sources have also told me that although majority of the PNP 3rd-Level Officers have already complied with the appeal of Sec. Abalos, there have been a number of reservations made by the affected officials.

There are also some who have kept their silence on the issue but have readied their lawyers in the event they are fired from the force and identified as drug coddlers or protectors without any iota of evidence. In short, they are ready to file criminal suits against anybody who will name them in public without being backed up by solid pieces of evidence and witnesses. It’s good that Sec. Abalos said they will let them retire ‘silently.’