EDITORIAL - CLEANSING IN THE PNP

As in the Cabinet, reorganization is the main topic these days at the
Philippine National Police. Published reports said Director Ge-neral
Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., who survived public outrage over the escape of
several notorious priso-ners from PNP headquarters at Camp Crame, is
finally on his way out as national police chief. Reports of his looming
departure, together with the appointment of Angelo Reyes as secretary of
the interior, have triggered the usual jockeying for key positions in the
PNP in an expected sweeping reshuffle.

That reshuffle should provide an opportunity not just for doling out more
post-election political rewards but also for genuine cleansing in the PNP.
Recent reports of "hulidap" — cases of cops who rob, kidnap or shake down
victims in other ways — should alert authorities about the urgency of
excising the rot from the national police. The fact that a word coined to
describe police shakedown artists has entered popular use is an indication
of how long the extortion activities have been going on.

Some quarters will argue that most of the shakedown victims are lawbreakers
anyway: suspected drug dealers, gambling lords, operators of girlie joints,
even people with immigration pro-blems. But if anyone has broken the law,
he should be arrested, prosecuted and locked up if convicted. Shaking him
down then setting him free makes the cop a partner in crime. Also,
"hulidap" cops victimize not just suspected criminals but also innocent
civilians who are easily intimidated by armed men in uniform.

These cops ­ and any person in the business of law enforcement ­ must be
weeded out instead of being rewarded with a higher rank, a juicy assignment
or a special task force. The "hulidap" cops are among the biggest reasons
for the erosion of public trust in the national police. In turn this lack
of public trust is one of the biggest hindrances to the campaign against
crime. Authorities know what to do, but do they have the political will for it?