Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson reminded the Philippine National Police (PNP) that leadership by example remains the key to ensuring discipline in the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson (Mark Balmores/Manila Bulletin)

Lacson said this is the key policy that would give the PNP chief the moral authority to tell his members not to extor or be involved in criminal activities.

The senator said he abided by this policy when he was at the PNP Chief.

“When I was Chief PNP, I had only one baseline – leadership by example. If the Chief PNP does not extort or engage in crime, he has the moral authority to tell his men to follow his example,” Lacson said during a Kapihan sa Senado forum on Wednesday, January 14.

The veteran lawmaker made this statement in the wake of recent crimes involving police personnel such as a rape in Cebu, and a policeman stabbing a fellow officer in Camp Crame, and a Negros Oriental policeman who killed three fellow officers and a female civilian in a restaurant-bar.

Lacson, who served as PNP chief from 1999 to 2001, marked his leadership in the PNP cleansing the institution of rogue cops, earning the PNP high public trust and approval ratings.

The senator said he can vouch that acting PNP chief P/Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. will work with Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla in disciplining what he called the ICU – Inept, Corrupt and Undisciplined – police officers.

“Nartatez knows my style as Chief PNP. I hope he, with the help of the DILG secretary, will discipline the police,” he said.

Nevertheless, Lacson said he will file a measure making the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS) independent in order to give the PNP more teeth and authority to deal against rogue members.

“The IAS must be separate from the PNP and have more teeth and more power. For now, it seems to be an adjunct of the PNP and is not truly independent,” he said.