By Joel Mangahis / Pacific Times
The newly signed Republic Act 11279 grants the Philippine National Police (PNP) full power and liability for the training of its new recruits to make them physically and morally upright while at the same time sanitizing its ranks.
Law author senator Panfilo Lacson in a press release said that this measure will help the PNP administration in its internal purging endeavors.
“With the transfer to the PNP of the training of police recruits, we can strengthen the foundation of a competent police force not just physically but also morally,” he said.
Chairing the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, Lacson discovered that relatively new PNP members were involved in crimes such as bribery, extortion, kidnapping, illegal drugs, and even planting of evidence, involved relatively new members of the PNP.
Under the new law, the PNP will be the umbrella organization which will administratively and operationally supervise the Philippine National Police Academy to train commissioned officers, and the National Police Training Institute to train non-commissioned officers.
This new set-up will make the PNP solely responsible for the wide range of tasks involving police officers — recruitment, education, field training and even up to deployment.
Citing his personal experience, Lacson said a police officer should have a deep understanding of the law, physical strength and fitness, knowledge of and facility with firearms, and the justified use of force — be it lethal or non-lethal.
Lacson added that a police officer “should stand firm against various tests of endurance; not just of physical, but oftentimes, of moral strength.”
“I feel the pain of having the name of the institution I once served with pride, dignity, and honor being dragged through the mire by police scalawags,” he added, ”Amid these anomalies that spark public outrage, we see clearly the lapses in the recruitment and education of our police officers – phases that make up the formative stage of becoming a law enforcer.”
Lacson concluded saying “By instituting reforms in the current system, we are strengthening the foundation of a highly efficient, effective and competent police force.”