Pubdate: Fri, 08 Jul 2016
Source: Philippine Star (Philippines)
Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2016
Contact:  http://www.philstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622
Author: Ana Marie Pamintuan

RODY NAMES NAMES

Don't say "The Punisher" didn't warn them: leave the police force, 
Rodrigo Duterte had said, or else he would name at least three 
generals who are coddlers of the illegal drug trade.

Of course no one left the Philippine National Police, lest he be 
suspected of being a coddler. And let's face it  not many people 
believed President Duterte would actually carry out his threat.

But we should have expected that when it comes to the anti-crime 
campaign, this President is unlike any we have seen. Duterte not only 
named the generals, but also made the announcement in a nationally 
televised speech, making sure they would be (in his own words) 
humiliated. And he named not just star-rank chief superintendents 
(one of them retired), but also a two-star director in the active 
service, Joel Pagdilao, and the three-star Marcelo Garbo Jr., who 
retired last March as PNP deputy director general.

There were people who felt sorry for the five for the unprecedented 
public humiliation by the President himself. On the other hand, 
precisely because the accusation was hurled by no less than the Chief 
Executive, the general perception is that Duterte, a former city 
prosecutor, would not have opened his mouth without already holding 
evidence against the five.

The other night I asked former president Fidel Ramos, who once headed 
the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police, what he 
thought of Duterte's unorthodox public shaming of the five PNP officers.

FVR, who is enjoying renewed popularity after being credited for 
sending Duterte to Malacanang, said he didn't know the five 
personally. But FVR probably knew more than he let on. He stopped 
joking, turned serious and told me that the five got what was coming to them.

So too bad about the five. They'll have their day in court, but it 
looks like their careers and their lives are ruined. Naturally, all 
five have denied the accusations and have vowed to clear their name. 
It's going to be a tortuous process.

The buzz at Camp Crame is that the evidence against the five was 
provided by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

One of the five reportedly has three houses under his children's name 
in posh Ayala Alabang. His wife, a lawyer, allegedly represents drug 
dealers arrested by cops. For these cases, the arresting officers 
supposedly lose interest and stop showing up in court, prompting the 
dismissal of the cases.

Another officer reportedly visited China three times with a Chinese 
who was later arrested for drug trafficking. This officer's 
replacement, however, may himself warrant at least a lifestyle check, 
being the owner of one of the largest houses in a government village.

Retired chief superintendent Vicente Loot, who is now a town mayor in 
Cebu, said all his assets were legally acquired. In 2009, he declared 
P106.7 million in assets, which reportedly include 18 houses mostly 
in Metro Cebu plus a cockpit.

Garbo is reportedly abroad. Last night Duterte warned drug 
traffickers Peter Lim and Herbert Colangco that "you will die." 
Solicitor General Jose Calida said that the two plus drug lord Peter 
Co are being coddled by Garbo. The President said the Department of 
the Interior and Local Government (DILG) "would take care" of Garbo.

The retired general's father was a civilian supervisor of the motor 
pool in the Manila Police Department. Garbo is one of three brothers 
who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy. One left the 
military after the scandal over an aborted firearms deal negotiated 
with an Israeli firm by Rico Puno when he was Noynoy Aquino's nino

bonito in the DILG. As PNP regional chief for Western Visayas, Garbo 
handled security when Gwen Garcia was suspended as Cebu governor. He 
openly campaigned for the Liberal Party's Mar Roxas, and was seen 
together with some of the candidate's staff and several active PNP 
officers including Chief Superintendent Bernardo Diaz at the Novotel 
at the Araneta Center in Cubao during the campaign.

Diaz is one of the five "narco generals" named by Duterte. Roxas has 
distanced himself from the five, saying that the PNP officers were 
merely chatting with his campaign staff, and that Loot supported 
Duterte during the elections. The administration, for its part, has 
stressed that the five were not singled out for their political 
alliances. Still, cops who get mixed up in politics risk drawing 
attention to themselves. Some officers do this deliberately, in hopes 
of attracting the attention of the right officials and improving 
their chances of promotion or getting a desired post. This can be 
particularly risky when general elections are approaching and no one 
knows which group will end up in power.

Cops are banned by law from engaging in partisan political 
activities. In reality, the system of assignment and promotion in the 
PNP is highly politicized. Police officers have seen the fortunes of 
those with the right political patrons rise dramatically.

This is the reason why classes in the PMA "adopt" prominent 
government officials as honorary "mistahs" or classmates. Roxas was 
adopted by PMA Class '84, which counts Pagdilao and Diaz as members.

I don't know why those trained to be military officers get to lead 
the civilian national police, where the required skills  for criminal 
investigation, forensics and maintenance of peace and order, among 
others  are different. Perhaps Duterte will fast-track the end of 
this bizarre setup.

In the Armed Forces, Duterte has reportedly ordered the Board of 
Generals to have genuine power in the promotion system. He should 
issue a similar order in the PNP, to insulate the police from politics.

I'm sure members of both the military and PNP want to rise through 
the ranks through merit rather than connections. But they are also 
practical people, and they know that politicians want to have a say 
in promotions and assignments. If sucking up to politicians gives 
officers an edge in promotions and assignments, then so be it.

There is always the chance, of course, that politics will be upended, 
and police officers with influential patrons will be in the 
crosshairs of a new power elite.

Those who have done nothing wrong have nothing to fear. But if they 
have broken the law, they should be prepared to pay for it.

President Duterte calls it retribution. And he's showing that he means business.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom