THE United Nations Development Program has come up with a first-of-a-kind study on the Philippine National Police (PNP)—what ails the organization, what prevents it from performing basic functions, and what can be done about its problems.
We are highlighting two issues that the voluminous study tackled and which have a direct impact on the country's peace and order situation: the relationship between the PNP leadership and local police officers and the authority being exercised by local government units (LGUs) over the internal operations of the police. The UNDP report has been distributed to the key command and staff offices of the PNP for their own comments. Below are excerpts from the study that are related to these issues:
A. Local police officers believe that local police units rank very low in the priorities of the PNP leadership.
· What was striking in the interviews with police officers at the police station level was their perception that the local police units are not a priority area of concern to the PNP leadership; hence, they are at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of training and resources.
· Local police officers believe that the PNP leadership focuses and concentrates resources on the various specialized task forces created at the height of a particular peace and order issue generating media attention: kidnap-for-ransom cases, anti-terrorism, transnational crimes, gambling, organized crime, illegal drugs campaign, and the like.
B. There is resentment for special task forces created and based in the national/central office.
· Stories reveal resentment for these task forces that—to the local police officer—appear to have easy access to operational funds, resources, and equipment, while ordinary policemen have to rely on their own resourcefulness to procure basic supplies. An example of the perceived disparity is an incident with a Quezon City police officer, who narrated how local police officers are not supplied with bullets for their service firearm. According to him, when they are issued their service firearm, they are given two magazines with 26 bullets. The bullets are never replenished; hence, when a police officer uses his firearm in operations, he has to use personal funds to purchase bullets, at the cost of P15 for every 9-mm bullet.
· Task forces such as the National Anti-Crime Task Force have unlimited resources, including ammunition. The advantage of having classmates and colleagues in these task forces, according to one officer, is that they can spare you surplus supplies such as bullets.
· Because the members of the task forces are based in the central offices, and coordinate directly with the PNP leadership, spot promotions come easily to them.
· Even basic administrative supplies are lacking, with no available budget for necessities such as bond paper for reports. Local units rely on the generosity of business establishments in the area to either donate basic supplies, or sell them at discounted prices.
C. There is resentment over the issue of spot promotions.
· The perception that local police unit operations are undervalued was particularly evident in the resentment over spot promotions. While task force members could easily obtain spot promotions, successful operations by local officers would go unrewarded, or worse, others more politically savvy in the central or regional offices would reap the benefits of these operations.
D. There is unwillingness to perform certain basic functions.
· Patrol functions are the backbone of police operations, and included among patrol functions are traffic services and effecting arrests. Local police officers have expressed an unwillingness to perform these basic functions, seeing them as an unnecessary nuisance.
· Police officers both in Metro Manila and regional offices commented that so much time was spent serving warrants of arrest, which, according to him, should just be served by court process servers. It is not necessary for the police to do this.
· According to personnel interviewed in Region IV-A, traffic management should no longer be a function of local police units, considering that traffic management us already performed by local executives.
· Unless policies are changed to accord deserved recognition and resources to the patrolman and local police officers and units, an improvement in the delivery of basic police services may not materialize.
The UNDP study likewise observed that the bigger challenges facing the PNP lie in the organization's relationship with other agencies, specifically the local government units. It said that "the authority being exercised by local government units over the internal operations and decision-making of the PNP creates an environment extremely vulnerable to undue politicization of the police force, destroys command responsibility and administration management authority of the PNP."
The study suggested that the relationship between the PNP and the local government units "should be one of partnership rather than one of superior-subordinate relationship." As it is, the mayors and governors have the final say on who gets appointed to be police chiefs in their areas.
"Local government units should not interfere with the internal administration of the PNP, particularly in recruitment, promotion, appointment and discipline, in the allocation and utilization of financial resources, in the day-to-day police operations, and in the transactional decision-making process of the PNP within their locality," the study said.
The study called on other agencies as well, such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of Customs, the Land Transportation Office, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, which currently perform policing functions, should "focus their functions on investigative monitoring and relegate functions of case cased intelligence, investigation, and apprehension" to the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation.
