SENATE President Aquilino Martin Pimentel III yesterday called for an immediate stop to Camp Crame’s practice of sending erring police officers to Mindanao, asserting that because “the South is deserving of honest and disciplined lawmen like the rest of the country.”
In a statement, Pimentel said the National Police should file administrative cases against the erring officers so that they could be expelled from the PNP or send them back to the Police Academy for re-education and reorientation of values.
He said he was expressing the dismay and apprehension of law-abiding citizens in Mindanao for being the “favored dumping ground” for rogue policemen.
“Mindanao should be treated by the PNP with the same respect that all Filipinos deserve regardless of their faith, their culture, and their economic status,” Pimentel said. “Give Mindanao the best men in uniform. Mindanao deserves nothing less.”
He urged National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa to eliminate this practice in the expected sweeping reforms to cleanse the 160-thousand-strong police force amid complaints of police abuses in the government’s continuing war on illegal drugs.
Dela Rosa faced grilling by senators on Thursday at a Senate committee hearing on the alleged involvement of senior police officers in “tokhang for ransom” operations victimizing Koreans.
Police with known involvement in cases such as this should be swiftly prosecuted and not given a mere slap on the wrist, Pimentel said.
“They should not be recycled and sent to far-away postings as punishment. This will merely transfer the problem, not put a stop to it,” Pimentel said.
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