Implement reforms
This situation just keeps repeating itself. When the drum seen floating on the Pasig river actually contained the corpse of a woman, an investigation into the crime began. The victim was Adora Lazatin, a businesswoman. Indications show she was strangled to death. Authorities then noticed several withdrawals from her ATM account. This led them to stake out the ATM where the withdrawals were made. Videos of a man in a Spiderman mask offered clues. Makes me wonder if the mask was to hide his identity, or make him stand out even more.
When this masked criminal showed up to once more withdraw money from the ATM, that's when he was arrested. Lo and behold, but not really surprising, Spiderman turned out to be a policeman. He then rats out on his cohorts, leading to the arrest of five persons. Of the five, three are policemen. Of the three two have criminal and administrative cases pending against them.
All three policemen have been dismissed from the PNP. But then I have to ask, if two of them already have pending criminal and administrative cases against them, why were they still in active service?
If they had criminal cases against them, why weren't they in restrictive custody?
Isn't the fact that they already have criminal cases against them indicate their criminal tendencies, and should therefore be watched?
Why are they even free to roam around?
Had they been on restrictive custody, Adora Lazatin may still be alive today.
But such is the flawed system of the PNP with regards to erring cops. The system is actually more protective of the so-called rights of these malevolent cops than the rights of citizens to be free from their kind. They should have been placed in a holding cell while their cases were pending. But no, they can go out, plan a murder and robbery, and even benefit from their crimes, taking along civilian accomplices. It is obvious they could no longer be cops. Yet it had to take a murder so foul such as this to finally dismiss them from service.
I can understand due process and the right of everyone to it. But there should be a better system to monitor the activities of policemen who are caught on the other side of the law, those who have broken their vows to serve and protect. These people are not ordinary civilians but trained by the government to be a special breed of enforcers. The second they turn to crime is the time they should be kicked out as law enforcers.
The image of the PNP has taken a beating for as long as I can remember. Largely in part because of policemen such as these involved in this latest heinous crime. It is easy to say that they represent the exception and not the rule. Try telling that to Adora Lazatin. Statistics fly out the window when you become one. If the PNP wants so much to clean up its image and regain the trust and respect of the citizenry, then it should police its own ranks, and at the slightest sign of criminal activity, dealt with swiftly, and harshly. Let us not wait for another victim to be discovered floating on the river or anywhere else before reforms or changes to the policies of the PNP regarding dirty cops are implemented.
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