LET’S STRENGTHEN LOCAL POLICE

As stated in the charter of the PNP, it is supposed to be national in scope, and civilian in character. I think that it has already accomplished the first part, but it still has to do a lot of work for the second part. Sad to say, there are still some remnants of a military culture within the PNP, but I am still hopeful that over the years, it can eventually achieve full civilianization as it is supposed to do. As far as I can recall, the PNP is already supposed to move away from using military uniforms and military ranks by now, but it seems that it is still not being done fully. Why is it important for them to do that? Why do we still allow the PNP to keep on militarizing itself? The answer to that is very simple. Because that is what the law says, and that is what we must do. In the United States, it is a big issue not to allow local police to acquire military grade equipment, even surplus equipment that is available in the local market. Why is that so? The answer to that is very simple. Military is military, and civilian is civilian, and clear boundaries have to be drawn between the two. At the risk of stating the obvious, the PNP is a civilian agency, period. I do not know exactly how much budget the PNP is getting from Congress, but whatever it is, it should be increased so that it could fully perform its functions as a nationwide civilian agency. By doing that, it will become more independent from the LGUs that are partially funding it now. IKE SENERES/02-21-2024