An internal investigative body that's completely independent from the Philippine National Police (PNP) hierarchy.
That's what AP Party-list nominee Ronnie Ong aims to institutionalize via legislation if and when he regains a seat in the House of Representatives in the May 2022 elections.
According to Ong, the recent PNP helicopter crash that killed one policeman while on its way to fetch PNP Chief General Dionardo Carlos from a private resort, underscores the importance of having an independent internal affairs panel which could probe any inappropriate behavior of police officials. He siad this includes the police chief.
"I completely agree that General Carlos has all the authority to use the police chopper. I also don’t want to put malice on his decision to spend a vacation in a private resort like the Balesin. But is it appropriate? No, I don’t think so,” said Ong, the former Ang Probinsyano party-list congressman.
The ex-solon said that while Carlos may have some basis to use the police helicopter as personal transport, his action is deemed inappropriate and a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.
Apart from the fact that the police helicopter has more important uses in law enforcement other than to ferry high ranking government officials, Ong said that basic “delicadeza” should have deterred him from going to Balesin, a private resort owned by the family of Julian Ongpin who was recently cleared by the PNP for the murder of artist Bree Johnson.
Ong stressed that it would take time before the destroyed police helicopter is replaced at the expense of the taxpayers "and yet, this tragic incident will just go down as one ordinary accident since this early, Carlos has already cleared himself of any wrongdoing".
Violations of cops are internally probed via the Internal Affairs Service or IAS. To strengthen IAS, AP Party-list will strongly push for the amendment of Republic Act (RA) 8551 or Philippine National Police Reform Reorganization act of 1998 to establish an internal affairs body that is outside of the PNP chain-of-command.
Ong said that by creating a body that is not within reach of the PNP hierarchy, the IAS will be freed from pressure and intervention from the PNP chief and other high-ranking PNP officers in adjudicating administrative cases.
The IAS will be removed from the supervision and control of the PNP Chief and would act independently in investigating police misconduct, he said.
With a strong and independent IAS, Carlos should have been automatically investigated and even been suspended for his actions, reckoned Ong.