PNP chief urges tighter scrutiny of recruits

Speaking to reporters on Monday, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said publishing the names of recruits would allow the general public to report those with pending criminal cases who want to join the PNP. (Photo: Philippine National Police/Facebook)

MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) mulls publishing the names of would-be policemen as part of its plan to further scrutinize recruits seeking to join its ranks.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said publishing the names of recruits would allow the general public to report those with pending criminal cases who want to join the PNP.

Citing the more than 1,176 policemen on the watch list of rogue law enforcers of the PNP’s Counter Intelligence Task Force (CITF), Albayalde underscored that said rogue policemen are more lethal than criminals.

“I think the number is 1,176 and remember these people are armed,” Albayalde pointed out.

The PNP chief reiterated that the proposed reforms in the recruitment process include replacing the “OJT” or On the Job phase of recruitment with commando training similar to that of the PNP’s elite Special Action Force (SAF).

“Unlike dati (before), pagkatapos ng (after the) basic recruit training recruit, (pag nasa) OJT sila, dun nila nakikita kung saan maganda ma-assign (When they are in the OJT phase, they see there where is it good to be assigned),” Albayalde explained.

Likewise under the proposed recruitment reform, an officer who conducted and signed off on the background investigation of a would-be policeman who later turns out to have pending criminal cases will also be sanctioned, Albayalde said.

“Ipapalagay natin kung sino nag-BI (background investigation). Kung meron palang record, babalikan natin yung pulis na nag-BI (We will also indicate who conducted the BI. If they have a record, we will get back at the police officer who conducted the BI),” he added.

Albayalde underscored that continued police operations will be undertaken with programs to weed out misfits and scalawags, adding that unbridled police operations without monitoring of police personnel tend to promote bad habits such as recycling of evidence and drugs.