IN a move to restore public confidence in men and women in uniform, the Philippine National Police on Friday sacked 297 policemen from three precincts in Caloocan City and announced plans to kick out the entire 1,000-member contingent of the Northern Police District after city cops were implicated in the killing of three minors in August.
The move is a welcome first step by the government to reform a police force that, because of a number of scalawags, has inspired fear rather than confidence. Any move to address this problem is worthy of public support.
In this case, the 297 sacked personnel were assigned at Police Community Precinct 7, which was home to three of the men tagged in the killing of Grade 11 student Kian delos Santos; PCP-2, where members of the force shot and killed Carl Angelo Arnaiz, 19; and PCP-4, where members forced their way into the house of an old woman.
Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde said all police personnel in Caloocan would undergo retraining and reorientation before being reassigned to other police units, not necessarily in Manila.
Albayalde did not say how long the retraining would last and how long it would take for the entire police force in Caloocan to be replaced.
“Their relief will be done via batches,” he said. “Eventually we will reshuffle the whole Caloocan City Police.”
The shakeup could not be more timely.
On Wednesday last week, 11 members of the NPD-District Public Safety Battalion were seen on CCTV taking valuables from a house during a supposed drug operation, forcing the National Capital Region Police Office to take prompt action.
All 11 members of the unit that took part in robbery have been kicked out, Albayalde said, but clearly, more had to be done.
Against this backdrop, even Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan—who has been supportive of the local police—has welcomed the reshuffle.
“We know that there are still many good Caloocan cops but there is a need for a drastic change to rid the roster of the rotten ones who continuously taint the image and name of the city,” Malapitan said in a message sent to the media.
The sentiment is shared by all who believe law enforcement should be the realm of decent and honest men and women, and that it needs to be reclaimed from the rogues who have sullied its image.
