Nograles blasts PNP over ‘absurd’ PDA ban

PBA Party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles on Friday scored the Philippine National Police (PNP) over its campaign against couples engaging in public display of affection (PDA) amid the surging COVID-19 infections in the country.

Nograles said it was “absurd” for the PNP to prioritize the restrictions on couples and should instead focus on cleansing their ranks of scalawags and misfits, considering the series of scandals that dragged the image of the country’s police force in the past weeks.

“What is happening with our PNP? There are more immediate and pressing matters other than running after couples. The security guards and the barangay tanods are already actively reminding people of physical distancing,” Nograles stressed.

Nograles reminded the PNP that only a few days ago, policemen were involved in the killing of Mayor Ronald Aquino of Calbayog City but instead of taking the necessary action to get into the bottom of the incident, the PNP leadership immediately declared that it was a shootout.

A few weeks ago, the PNP was also involved in a questionable armed encounter with operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA).

“Unless the top brass wants the people to fear the police instead of see them as professional public servants, then the PNP has to take action against scalawags and misfits,” Nograles said.

Nograles, the principal author of House Bill no. 3065, otherwise known as the Internal Affairs Reform and Reorganization Act purposely to provide the IAS full autonomy in the investigation and prosecution of police scalawags, serves as a member of the National Advisory Council on PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS).

The Davao-based solon stressed that although IAS has zero backlog in cases against police officers, the recommendations to reprimand, fire, and file criminal and administrative cases are only recommendatory and not entirely independent of the PNP.

“We need to change this to help professionalize the service. We need to strengthen Internal Affairs as an independent, impartial, effective and an efficient institutional guardian of integrity,” he said. (JCC)

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)