Sen. Lacson to PNP: Clean up police ranks first

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 23): Sen. Lacson to PNP: Clean up police ranks first

While the campaign against illegal drugs has good intentions, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Wednesday that it will be more effective if the police ranks are cleaned up first.

“They (Philippine National Police) are focused on cleansing society from illegal drugs. Somehow, they are succeeding but the problem is there are controversies. Equally important is the cleansing of PNP scalawags,” Lacson told reporters in an interview.

“They should fix their problems in the ranks first and not simply close their eyes because the operations against illegal drugs are working,” he added.

Lacson, who is a former PNP chief, said the reality is that the PNP is cleansing to “cover up” their own involvement in the illegal drug trade which would make the country’s illegal drug problem “never-ending.”

The senator made this remark after PNP chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, during the second Senate hearing into the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, got emotional over the public's losing trust on the PNP.

Dela Rosa was in tears when he admitted that he could not blame the public for losing trust in the PNP, saying that he himself did not know who to trust anymore.

“I do not know who I can trust. I pass on to the Lord the current situation of the PNP. I really want to reform the PNP because I really love our organization. I am having a very difficult time but I will never surrender,” Dela Rosa said.

He admitted that there are indeed policemen who are “blinded by money” because of poverty, and promised President Rodrigo R. Duterte that he would clean their ranks even if it costs him his life.

The PNP chief, meanwhile, appealed to the public anew to understand that they are “not Superman” but “only human.”
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=942727