By Aaron Recuenco
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is neither bothered nor surprise at the low conviction rate of drug cases it is filing before various courts across the country.
PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde (Kevin Tristan Espiritu / MANILA BULLETIN)
PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said the long judicial process seems to be a normal scenario in the country, not only on drug cases but also other criminal offenses.
In fact, he said some of the cases they filed five years ago are still ongoing in some courts.
“It’s because of a lot of cases being handled by our courts. This is the reason why we cannot really establish if there is indeed low conviction rate,” said Albayalde.
The PNP Chief was reacting to reports of the low conviction rate of the PNP based on the records of the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court.
Albayalde also acknowledged that there are indeed some drug cases which were dismissed but he said they are now implementing measures to run after policemen who would be found deliberately sabotaging the drug cases filed in court.
“We are monitoring policemen who deliberately snub hearings. Our policy now is that it is a must for every policeman to attend court hearing,” said Albayalde.
Several years ago, it was found out that the PNP has only less than 10 percent conviction rate on drug cases.
As a measure, then PNP chief Raul Bacalzo intensified the campaign against policemen who would intentionally snub court hearings, which resulted in the dismissal of scores of policemen from the service.
The PNP leadership also addressed the usual complaints of the policemen that they are not being given allowances, not even transportation allowance, whenever they would attend court hearings.