Sec. Año ‘come home’

There is apparently a silent prayer or a wish being said by some well-intentioned people inside the DILG and the Philippine National Police that Secretary Ed Año would finally come home to his “home territory” and spend what little time he has in government to putting the PNP into “order” before it fractures irreparably. The good secretary has certainly contributed immensely in his work with the IATF even after contracting COVID-19 twice and experiencing a serious medical episode that caused friends to reach out to prayer groups to intercede for the health of Secretary Año. All the hard work seems to finally pay off as the National Capitol Region is about to go down to Alert Level 1 hopefully this week and we have to thank Sec. Año and associates for their efforts.

On the other hand, some sources within the DILG and PNP are saying that as far as Alert Levels go, the PNP state of affairs may be categorized as Alert Level 3 as far as misconduct and even criminal behavior among teams and individuals are concerned. In the last three months, numerous incidents of misconduct as well as criminal activity among policemen have been reported almost weekly, some leading to arrests, investigations and filing of cases such as carnapping, kidnapping, murder, extortion or frame up as well as shooting civilians while under the influence of alcohol. To be fair, these incidents are not as prevalent as they used to be in the era of Kotong Cops, Ninja cops, etc. but the fact that there is a case just about every week involving different sections of the PNP has not escaped the attention of members of the organization as well as retired officials of the DILG. They find it alarming that 30 men can be abducted in broad daylight never to be seen again, they find it alarming that members of the Bureau of Customs have been gunned down since December but no breakthroughs have been made by the PNP investigators. Then there is the murder of the Mayor of Calbayog where 9 cops are involved, members of the CIDG in Pampanga and the HPG in Laguna arrested by PNP operatives after staging a fake buy bust operation and the killing of a businessman and his assistant in Quezon province.

The recent “scandal” or issue involving the Chief PNP who is now being questioned how he could afford a weekend with his family at the high-end Balesin Beach Club and the use of a multi-million peso police chopper as Air Limo for the PNP chief that resulted in a serious crash killing one policeman, has also raised a lot of questions. Even on a Chief PNP’s salary, the family weekend at Balesin would surely be prohibitive. If the stay was compliments of management, accepting the stay would be deemed unethical or a form of accepting a “bribe”. Unfortunately for the Chief PNP, transparency got the better of him and boxed him in a “Damned if you do-Damned if you don’t” situation. This bind undoubtedly added to the dismay of career police officials living sacrificially with discipline and integrity.

As Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Ed Año sits on top of the PNP hierarchy as well as the NAPOLCOM or the National Police Commission which is the disciplinary board that hears all complaints leveled at members of the PNP. While the national priority is to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, insiders believe that it is vital for Secretary Año to act decisively on the breakdown of discipline and rising criminality among junior members of the PNP. They compare it to a house where the parents have been too busy making a living outside that the leadership chain and rules of engagement have essentially been unenforced or taken for granted. Rules need to be observed and that can only happen when the head is around to do so. Unfortunately, Secretary Año has been preoccupied with the IATF while the revolving door promotion policy of the PNP has been one after another and too close and too short for the next person to establish leadership and control of the PNP or the situation. Someone likened it to “Tourists” at the pre-departure lounge, where the soon to be retired have become lame ducks or been busy constantly touring camps and saying farewell to their comrades or “Ka Baro”. It also does not help for Sec. Año to gloss over or be dismissive of the “problems” of the PNP from the top to the bottom because it will be just like a parent who spares the rod because he himself is feeling guilty for being an absent parent.

The fact that two former PNP Chief and now senators Ping Lacson and Bato dela Rosa have been calling the attention of the PNP-CIDG to be very attentive and particular about the conduct of investigations concerning the 30 missing Sabungeros indicates that there is either dissatisfaction or doubts over how investigators are handling the matter. Clearly there is a need to reset things at the PNP not just for the moment but for the coming transition of administration after the May 2022 elections.

My own fear is if Secretary Año opts to take his exit before a new president is elected and leaves the DILG to an Officer in Charge or an Undersecretary who will be forced to stay as a seat warmer in an “Acting” capacity. With three months left for the Duterte administration and with the way “misconduct” has been cropping up in the ranks, Secretary Año needs to re-establish his presence and the oversight of the NAPOLCOM over the PNP. Yes, the Secretary needs to set the house called PNP in order.