The logo of the Philippine National Police at Camp Crame in Quezon City, Oct. 19, 2017. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) warned the public against disrupting legitimate police operations, including checkpoints, to confront or correct officers over alleged violations.
PNP Public Information Office chief PCol. Allen Rae Co said stopping a checkpoint simply to question an officer’s appearance or conduct could compromise an ongoing police operation, particularly when personnel might be searching for crime suspects.
“Imagine kung anybody could just disrupt ‘yung isang legitimate police operation. Papatigilin mo to check their appearance, to check the positioning of their vehicle, and for all you know baka hinahanap nitong checkpoint natin is a person or persons who have just committed a crime,” Co said.
The PNP official was responding to a viral incident involving a police officer who was confronted and livestreamed while manning a checkpoint over his appearance.
Co said that while the public has the right to raise legitimate concerns and criticize police officers, these should be reported through the proper channels, such as the police chain of command, Internal Affairs Service (IAS), or the National Police Commission (Napolcom).
“Ang PNP respects the right of every citizen to raise valid concerns, legitimate comments as well as ‘yung constructive criticism. This keeps us accountable to continue improving our services, but this should be done in the proper way, in the proper forum,” Co said.
According to Co, the PNP chief has ordered the Directorate for Operations (DO) to come up with operational directives on how officers should handle similar situations.
The Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) was tasked to investigate the incident, while the PNP Legal Service would study possible legal remedies for the affected personnel and the organization.
“We would like to repeat—we will hold our officers accountable for any violation of the law or PNP policies, but we will also protect them from improper treatment,” Co said.
“Degrading treatment is not an acceptable way of correcting our police officers. Kung may nakita tayong mali na ginagawa ng ating pulis i-report sa proper authority. Meron tayong chain of command, meron mga office na magha-handle nito, and if action is warranted, we will act on it,” he added.
On the concern over an officer being unshaven while in uniform, Co acknowledged that this could potentially violate PNP policies.
But he reiterated that the proper course is to report the violation rather than stop the officer from performing his duties.
“Hindi natin papabayaan ‘yan. What we cannot abide is ‘yung ihihinto mo ‘yung trabaho ng pulis dahil meron siyang balbas,” he said.
The new operational guidelines will apply generally to similar incidents, regardless of who raises the concern, Co said.
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