Erring cops
TEN months before the end of the six-year Duterte presidency, the government has not shown any sign of backing off from its commitment to rid the Philippine National Police (PNP) of “rotten eggs.”
This, in the view of many quarters, is good news since it is public knowledge that there are still a sprinkling of men and women in uniform, who continue to tarnish the image of the police organization.
But the Filipino people believe that PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo “Guilor” T. Eleazar is out to go after these few erring policemen while he is still at the helm of the 200,000-strong law enforcement agency.
A member of Class 1987 of the elite Philippine Military Academy, the country’s premier military school, Eleazar is set to set retire from the police service on November 13, when he reaches the compulsory retirement age of 56.
Without doubt, “rotten eggs” in the PNP, including the so-called “kotong cops,” do not like the country’s top “Mamang Pulis” because of his reputation and record as a “disciplinarian.”
In fact, Eleazar ordered his officials to immediately conduct summary dismissal proceedings against a police officer, who was accused of raping a quarantine violator in Mariveles, Bataan.
This after the police filed sexual assault and acts of lasciviousness complaints against Pat. Elmer Tuazon Jr., 25, and marshal team leader Armando Dimaculangan, 53, before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Balanga City.
Records show that Tuazon and Dimaculangan, while on duty at the quarantine control point, cited the victim for being an unathorized person outside residence (APOR).
The victim was brought to the boarding house of Tuazon, where the latter raped her. B/Gen. Valeriano T. de Leon, Police Regional Office 3 director, said Dimaculangan was also accused of molesting the victim.
The PNP deserves the support of the public as it pursues government’s all-out war against scalawags, misfits and other undesirables in the national police agency.
