THE Philippine National Police (PNP) has boosted its effort to provide adequate legal assistance to policemen facing service-connected cases following a commitment from the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund, Inc. (PSMBFI) to provide millions of pesos to the project.

This as PNP chief, General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr. and PSMBFI Chief Executive Officer and President Jose Chiquito Malayo signed a memorandum of agreement in which the latter will provide financial support to policemen who have been slapped with harassment suits by moneyed suspects and other individuals.

The PSMBFI initially allocated P30 million to provide immediate financial assistance to policemen facing service-related cases.

At the same time, the company also provided the PNP a total of P26.5 million to support the travel expenses of policemen serving as prosecution witnesses in the country.

Policemen facing service-related cases, otherwise known as ‘harassment suits,’ usually complain they lack the money to seek a good private lawyer to help them, pay for their travel expenses once they are required to attend court hearings and most importantly, pay for bail bonds ordered by the court.

One sad case involves seven PNP Special Action Force troopers who found themselves in jail 14 years after figuring in an encounter with heavily-armed New People’s Army rebels in Rodriguez, Rizal.

The incident has prompted the SAF leadership to incorporate basic responders and crime scene processing courses on their commando students, the Journal Group learned.

“It’s lessons learned and thus, I have decided to make some changes, some upgrading in our commando training and this time, we will include basic investigation and 1st responders’ training to our students,” said PNP-SAF director Major General Bernard M. Banac.

The idea is to ensure that SAF troopers will be able to undertake the required procedure in an encounter scene, specifically the processing of evidence recovered at the site.

“We have to fully document the crime scene and properly turn it over including all gathered pieces of evidence to the concerned municipal police station in the absence of SOCO teams,” the former PNP spokesperson said.

Banac said that Acorda has vowed to provide full financial support to the seven policemen who were charged in the line of duty.

“Our first objective is to help the seven post bail for their temporary liberty,” said Banac.

PNP lawyers are also seeking the transfer of the seven identified as Captains Justin Annogue, Orlando Rosales Jr. and Guilbert Asuncion; Police Chief Master Sergeants Israel Lucob and Joseph Chumawar; Police Staff Sgt. Quill Bay-an and Police MSgt. Dante Baloran to the PNP Custodial Service.

The accused were earlier placed under the custody of the PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group after they surrendered to officials to face the criminal charges against them.

The seven were the subject of a warrant of arrest for two counts of murder issued by Judge Clarissa Dao of the San Mateo, Rizal Regional Trial Court Branch 174.

The warrant stemmed from the killing of the two suspected NPA members during an encounter with PNP-SAF troopers in Brgy. Puray in Rodriguez, Rizal 14 years ago.

The accused are all members of the SAF’s Rapid Deployment Battalion.

PNP spokesperson, Colonel Jean S. Fajardo said the PNP-PSMBFI agreement aims to address the various risks faced by law enforcement officers whom she admitted face not only physical harm but also the financial burden of legal proceedings related to their service once charged in court.

The PSMBFI said it developed a dedicated Legal and Travel Assistance Program to help aggrieved policemen.

As agreed upon by the PNP and the financial institution, the PSMBI will provide financial support to police officers dealing with service-related cases and at the same time cover travel expenses for prosecution witnesses.

Furthermore, a portion of the fund will be allocated to enhance the capabilities of the PNP Legal Service.

Acorda said the program is scheduled to launch in March this year.

If successful, PSMBFI has committed an additional P240 million over the next five years to sustain the program.