Without saying the Philippine National Police is the problem, the country is in dire need of “surgically” solving policing problems. Melchor C. de Guzman (2023) has this to say: (“7 Surgical Solutions”) remove drug and gambling enforcements from the police; civilianization of administrative, technical services and auxiliary services; include civilians in the hiring and promotions boards; attach the Internal Affairs Service to the National Police Commission; decentralize operations; place the Napolcom under the Office of the President and civilianize it; and recruitment, education, training and promotion should include community relations and ethical decision making.
Nilatag ang pitong solusyon nang libre. Huwag nating sayangin ang napakalaking pagkakataon at kritikal na “learning experience” na ito sa hanay ng pambansang pulisya, hindi ng pambansang koponang Gilas Pilipinas.
Pag-aralan natin ang mungkahi ni Georgia Gwinnett College professor of criminal justice/criminology Melchor De Guzman.
Matinik na mananaliksik ng mga tungkulin ng pulis, ng organisasyon ng Pambansang Pulisya ng Pilipinas, ng pansibilyang karakter ng PNP, at ng mga kaugnay na usaping pampulis bago mabigyan ng magagandang offer na magturo at magbigay-konsulta sa iba’t ibang estado sa Estados Unidos, si Dr. de Guzman ay daluyan ng pagpapalang pangkaisipan dahil kalimitan sa mga pananaliksik niya ay matutunghayan sa mga publikasyon na peer-reviewed, 16 sa mga ito’y na-index ng Scopus, kaya hindi matatawaran ang kanyang ambag sa panitikan ng pagpupulis (policing) sa buong mundo, hindi lang sa Pilipinas.
Nabuo noong Enero 29, 1991, ang PNP ay parehong pambansa at lokal (sa tagubilin ng Seksyon 6, Artikulo 16 ng Saligang Batas ng 1987) na pwersang tagapagpasunod ng mga batas. Matapos ang 32 taon sasabihin ni Dr. de Guzman sa kanyang social media account, “I think starting over with a new Philippine police is not such a bad idea.” (One of his commenters posted: “I suggest starting with a new government, not just the police. From top to bottom.”)
On item 7 (Recruitment, education, training and promotion should include community relations and ethical decision-making), Dr. de Guzman wrote: “Education, training, and promotion are normally centered on main objectives of the organization. In policing, officers were normally trained around crime solution techniques, threat neutralization (impending or immediate), life saving acts and gallantry in encounters, and, of course, arrests. The higher the value of the target or the higher the status and numbers of the “saved,” the more one is rewarded: In other words, the warrior or knight acts are emphasized. Even with the emergence of community policing where ‘soft skills’ (community relations, service orientation, empathy) are stressed, the formal focus remained to be around the warrior/soldier mentality. This emphasis on police training, education, and reward systems runs counter to the ideals of true police service — public service, community relations, and promotion of community well-being through enhanced collaborative public safety services provision. If the police want to develop the latter, then those must be the center of police education, training, and reward system. In this regard, police education should be grounded on liberal education where the focus would be on the understanding of behaviors and social engineering geared towards community empowerment. Training should emphasize interpersonal communication, de-escalation techniques, persuasive or motivational interviewing, and all other less lethal techniques. These are skills that would persuasively convince a threat to submit, a witness to willingly cooperate, and a community that is willing to contribute their share for the attainment and maintenance of higher public safety needs. Finally, rewards through pay and promotion should be extended to those who demonstrate community empowerment, cooperation, and support.
“If we wish to break the warrior mentality in the police service and develop a service mentality then police education, training and rewards system should be fully integrated toward this latter objective.
On item 6, the University of Cincinnati-trained police scholar explained: “The (PNP) is such a huge bureaucracy with such strategic importance for the peace and security of the nation. There is also an effort to civilianize and de-politicize the organization. The current setup is not ideal for the police system. Compared to the other commissions (e.g., NAPC, CCC, etc.), the peace and order should have a cabinet rank that is solely dedicated to the administration and supervision of the police force. The current arrangement of having the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (SILG) as ex-officio chair makes the office relegated to a bureau and the SILG overburdened with local government affairs and security affairs. The department is also overburdened and its concentration on peace and order will be spread thin. Likewise, the inclusion of the Chief PNP as part of Napolcom is less than ideal for its civilianization as well as checks and balances… (It) is being proposed that the Napolocom be under the Office of the President with a Cabinet rank for its Chair. It is further proposed that the Chief of the National Police be excluded from the commission and become simply the chief executive officer of peace and order. Other offices can be created for police-civilian operations where strategic plans and programs are formulated and executed to make peace and order a multi-agency effort. This means that some of the current offices in the police bureaucracy would be transferred to the Commission such as the SOSIA or FEU or PCR. Thus, the Napolcom is not merely a policymaking body but would be involved in administrative and regulatory matters. This would make the police more involved with the operation aspects and the Napolcom would have enhanced functions that will not only include policymaking but some regulatory powers. This would also pave the way for civilianization to become a reality.”
Dr. de Guzman on item 5: “Decentralization can still be done with units that operate nationally from those that operate locally. This is already happening now despite the police being national. Drugs enforcement, maritime, airport security, criminal forensics and investigations, SAF and others that should have broad jurisdictions could operate within their own spheres. The municipal and city police agencies can just concentrate on their areas of jurisdiction. Certainly, the national character of the police would make coordination between national operating units and those operating at the local government levels easier. This would also insulate portions of the national police within the political clout of local government officials. In fact, a national operating unit could be created to check on local governments who will form private armies or use the local police for their local armies. Perhaps these special units could be under the area commands.
“The other thing that would neutralize political dynasties is to remove the provincial and regional offices.”
“These reforms would make the organization flatter and enable the police to be deployed more in the field.
“So, the proposal would be a hybrid operational model where units with a broad and national scope would be centralized and those that provide local services directly would be decentralized. This organizational arrangement would also focus on resource allocations for national units and disperse budgetary allocations directly to the local police operatives. These are now de facto being done. What is necessary is to institutionalize it so that these changes will be more permanent.”
Item 4: “The Internal Affairs Service was a creation of R.A. 8551. The body was primarily created to investigate police misconduct motu propio. To avoid being co-opted by the PNP, a separate and independent body was established with its own administration and its career path clearly defined. Once a sworn officer joins the service, the officer can no longer come back to the main PNP hierarchy. However, the law did not completely divorce the two. The personnel remained ‘blue’ despite such independence. The Chief, PNP exerts some influence. Likewise giving the personnel police ranks puts them in an awkward position where they can both claim to be police officers and police watchdogs at the same time. That was clearly a mistake in R.A. 8551. Even the current Senate bill of Sen. Imee Marcos does not remedy this situation. Except for the Director General, everyone else will be carrying police ranks. Likewise, members have to have at least a five-year experience with the exception of lawyers who can enter laterally.
“The current Senate bill is an improvement. However, I submit that unless we completely move IAS out of the PNP, its independence and legitimacy could still be in question. Members of IAS could be easily co-opted, corrupted, and influenced by the very institution it is supposed to watch. Moreover, it claims to create IAS as a civilian agency but retains some aspects of the police ranks and culture. I am also not in favor of making the top positions reserved for lawyers. The position calls for knowledge of police science and administration and not a practice of law. Legal skills are not necessarily fit for the positions in IAS.
“For these reasons, the IAS should be moved directly under the control and supervision of Napolcom (Note: In my earlier posts, I have suggested that the Chief PNP should not be part of Napolcom and that Napolcom should be placed under the Office of the President with a cabinet rank.)”
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
