Albayalde cries foul over bad portrayal of cops in action drama

“First, we want to probably have an audience and probably, if they cannot stop that, at least they can change the way they portray the PNP,” he added.(File Photo: Philippine National Police/Facebook)

MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday lamented the bad portrayal of police officers in the action drama series “Ang Probinsyano”.

“Things are quite unusual here and it gives us a bad impression actually. It’s a bit unfair to PNP when you portray that kind of (bad) activity that doesn’t really happen in our organization,” PNP Chief, Director General Oscar Albayalde, told reporters.

Albayalde said he plans to write a letter to the Movie Television Review and Classification Board (MTCRB) and the producer of the drama regarding this matter.

“We had a meeting with the SILG (Secretary of Interior and the Local Government) and it was decided that we will do that (write a letter). We had a previous letter to MTRCB already last September. Now we will be writing both the production outfit and the MTRCB,” he said.

“First, we want to probably have an audience and probably, if they cannot stop that, at least they can change the way they portray the PNP,” he added.

Albayalde also said the show’s portrayal of the PNP Chief as a villain is far from reality.

“It’s very disturbing and people see it as if instant justice is acceptable. It’s not. We are a nation of laws, not of men. That is what we want to show, that is why we are giving our comments,” he said.

“Ang Probinsyano”, which began airing in 2015, is an action drama based on a 1997 Fernando Poe Jr. film with the same title.

In the drama, PNP chief Alejandro Terante (played by actor Soliman Cruz) is in cahoots with fictional Vice President Lucas Cabrera (played by Edu Manzano) who is involved in illegal activities.