SENATOR Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday said the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) must be strengthened in order to effectively fight misconduct and corruption among police officers.

Cayetano made the push during the plenary discussion on Senate Bill 2449, which aims to strengthen the PNP by instituting various changes in its organizational structure.

“In my 31 years in the government, parang hindi pa ako nakakakita ng malalaking kaso sa PNP na ang nag-expose ay y’ung IAS,” he said.

He stressed that police officers must feel that there is an institution constantly watching over their actions and is actually capable of holding any police officer, from the lowest rank to the highest, accountable.

The independent senator urged Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, to include certain provisions in the bill that will help improve the investigative function of IAS, one of which is by putting it under National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) instead of the PNP Chief.

Cayetano said such a degree of independence will allow the IAS to investigate any case without the involved party meddling with evidence or retaliating against the investigator.

He said this also protects upright police officers from being targeted for doing their jobs correctly.

“This strengthening of IAS will also protect policemen kasi marami pong matitinong pulis na kapag nanghuli, babaligtarin pa sila,” he said.

“Kasi [ang nangyayari] nagkakaasaran. Halimbawa, iniimbestigahan niya ang isang heneral and ‘yung heneral na ‘yun ay naging Chief PNP, hindi siya ipo-promote kasi inimbestigahan siya,” he added.

Dela Rosa, who was PNP Chief for one year and nine months during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, agreed with Cayetano that the IAS must be strengthened as part of the PNP reform, particularly by making it an attractive career destination for quality, upright, and “snappy” police officers.

Cayetano also recommended that the bill provide faster promotion and a better pay for police officers who decide to join the IAS.

 The independent senator also recommended that IAS be automatically given P5 million to be able to conduct priority investigations.

“One deterrent to investigators is imbestigador ka nga, wala ka namang resources para mag-imbestiga. As an investigator, kailangan mo ng pera whether it’s to buy information, for the lie detector test, or to fly witnesses in,” he said.

 Dela Rosa thanked Cayetano for his “good ideas” and vowed to study and consider them for possible amendments in the bill. 

Cayetano: Elevate PNP stature by integrating police role in DepEd curriculum

HOW can the Philippine National Police (PNP) elevate its stature in the eyes of the public? Include the role of the police in the curriculum of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Cayetano made this suggestion on December 12, 2023 in his interpellation on Senate Bill No. 2449 sponsored by Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa which proposes amendments to the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998.

“What can we do in this law to help the members of the PNP na iakyat ang kanilang stature? What I would propose is to look at the curriculum and to look in the DepEd [as to] how we can teach our children about the police,” the independent senator said.

Cayetano said public perception of the PNP has gotten so low that even television programs tend to portray the police organization negatively.

He recalled the time in 2018 when then-PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde expressed concern about the adverse portrayal of police officers in the media, specifically in the widely-watched ABS-CBN program “Ang Probinsyano.”

“We were already in the Senate noong nagreklamo si Chief Albayalde doon sa Ang Probinsyano [dahil] mayroon parang masamang depiction sa [mga pulis],” he said.

Cayetano said teaching children early on about the role of the police in society will go a long way in changing public perception, even though it will take years to achieve.

He cited the steps taken by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who saw that Chinese Singaporeans tended to view police officers of different races with disdain.

“Ang ginawa ni Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, he gave the assignment to (the Ministry of Education). Sabi niya, ‘I’m giving you 10 years na magbago ang paningin ng tao lalo na ng next generation sa pulis at saka sa militar,’” he said, adding the goal was achieved within that time frame.

 The independent senator, however, clarified that he is not advocating a manipulated or falsely elevated perception of the police through education, saying public perception should be matched by a “revival of the heart” of the police officers and the organization itself.

 “Let me just make that statement proposal that when we talk about stature, we’re not talking about artificial stature. Kapag y’ung revival of the heart ng pulis [at] y’ung kanyang stature ay medyo napaganda natin, then mapapaganda rin natin [ang tingin sa kanila ng publiko],” he said. 