Echoing Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s appeal, Senator Bam Aquino has asked the Philippine National Police to stop sending erring cops to fight in Mindanao as punishment because this would further “reduce public trust in the police.”

“Filipinos deserve an upstanding police force. Delinquent cops should be fired, not just reassigned and sent to Mindanao,” Aquino said in a statement on Friday.

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“Napakahalaga na may tiwala ang tao sa pulis, lalong lalo na sa Mindanao kung saan may martial law at banta ng terorismo (It is very important for people to trust the police especially in Mindanao, where there is martial law and a threat of terrorism). We should send our best and brightest, not those who abuse their power,” Aquino said.

On Wednesday, Police Officers 1 Jose Tandog and Chito Enriquez were turned over to the Lanao del Sur police. Last week, Tandog and Enriquez accosted two men for drinking liquor on the street in Mandaluyong City. Tandog hit the victims with a rattan stick and even threatened to shoot one of them.

PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s decision to send abusive Mandaluyong cops to fight in the strife-torn Marawi City drew criticisms from different sectors, including Lorenzana and a local government official from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

ARMM Assemblyman Zia Alonto Adiong, in a Twitter post, said the PNP’s move was “offensive” to the citizens of Mindanao to “treat them like trashbin for abusive cops.”

“It’s quite offensive to treat us like trashbin for abusive cops. And to use the Marawi siege as a punishment shows insensitivity,” Adiong said.

“Hindi po tayo dito basurahan para sa mga abosado at tiwaling pulis ng (We are not the disposal bin of abusive and corrupt cops from) Metro Manila,” he added.

Lorenzana also decried the PNP’s decision, saying Marawi needs troops who will volunteer to fight the rebels and help solve the crisis there.

READ: Defense chief against deployment of erring cops to Marawi as punishment

“You should send the best people here. We need the good people to come here and fight this war. We do not need ‘yung patapon dito (the weeds here),” he said.

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The defense chief said sending errant cops in Marawi would just add to the headache of the commanders there.

Aquino then filed a bill that would strengthen the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the PNP to instill better discipline and performance among policemen.

Aquino filed Senate Bill No. 1285 or the PNP Internal Affairs Service Modernization Act. The PNP-IAS is the unit tasked to probe erring members of the police force.

“The PNP must clamp down on crime and corruption while fully abiding by the law and respecting basic human rights,” Aquino said.

The bill seeks to expand the motu-proprio investigation powers of the IAS to cover all acts and omissions by PNP officers which might discredit them or hinder them from rendering their services effectively.

The measure also mandates the prioritization of IAS functions, which promote character building, and carry out inspections, audits, intelligence operations and rehabilitation among officers.

“Ang mga pulis na nang-aagrabyado ng taumbayan at gumagawa ng katiwalian ay dapat managot at matanggal sa puwesto. Marami sa mga pulis na nagtatrabaho nang maayos ang nadadamay sa kanilang ginagawang kapalpakan,” Aquino said.

(Police who abuse the people and commit anomalies should be held responsible and removed from their posts. The cops who do their jobs are being dragged by their errant colleagues’ mistakes.) IDL/rga

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