PNP chief gets 9-month term extension

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza will stay in his post for nine more months, President Arroyo announced yesterday.

The President also announced the designation of Director Florencio Fianza as head of a study group that will prepare a training program for Filipino policemen to be sent to Scotland Yard in London and Hong Kong.

In a talk with reporters at Camp Crame in Quezon City where she attended the PNP’s 11th anniversary celebration yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo said the extension of Mendoza’s tenure will not jeopardize the career of any police official.

Mendoza is supposed to officially bow out of the service on March 17 when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56.

However, a National Police Commission rule provides that the PNP chief has a fixed term of four years.

Mrs. Arroyo said not even Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., who is next in line to Mendoza, will be adversely affected by her decision to extend Mendoza’s service.

"Ebdane is (still) very, very young. He will retire on Dec. 30, 2004," the President said.

She also cited the high approval rating of Mendoza and the entire PNP as indicated by a Social Weather Stations (SWS) report.

The SWS survey gave Mendoza a 22 percent public acceptance rating, while the PNP got 30 percent.

Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo has indicated that Mrs. Arroyo has the legal prerogative to defer Mendoza’s retirement. "That is within the powers of the President," he said.

"If the President feels that General Mendoza is doing a good job and that he is still needed, I think that is the prerogative and responsibility that the Constitution and the law gives to the President," Romulo said.

Camp Crame sources said Mendoza and Ebdane have been at loggerheads, and have traded blame over the rash of kidnappings that greeted the President upon her return from an eight-day trip to Britain, Canada and the United States.

Addressing the PNP anniversary rites, the President said Fianza would visit London to coordinate with Scotland Yard officials regarding a special training course for selected PNP members in combating kidnapping and other organized crimes.

She said the bilateral anti-crime cooperation was a result of her talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Jan. 28.

She also struck a similar arrangement with Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee Hwa during her trip to the territory late last year.

Drilon walks out

of PNP rites

Senate President Franklin Drilon walked out of the PNP ceremonies as the PNP protocol officers failed to provide a seat for him.

Realizing the oversight, Mendoza immediately paid a call on Drilon at the Senate to apologize.

"I was invited. I confirmed my attendance and when I arrived, there was no seat for me," Drilon said.

"The dignity of my office requires that I be appropriately seated," he said, adding that the seat offered to him was behind the President’s aide.

He left quietly and without raising any fuss over the incident.

In offering his apology, Mendoza assured Drilon that it was an oversight "and not in any manner intended to demean his office."

"I realize these things happen," Drilon said.

Meanwhile, Mendoza said he is set to implement a five-point program designed to stamp out criminality.

The program involved increased police visibility, faster response to calls for police assistance, more efficient traffic management, disaster and emergency preparedness, and enhanced police discipline.

In his speech, Mendoza also underscored the significance of closer police-community relationship in crime prevention and control. — With reports from Christina Mendez, Efren Danao