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[av_heading heading=’BENEATH & BEYOND | The PNP motto and pledges’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY SONIA D. DAQUILA
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Saturday, July 1, 2017
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MAC GLEN Villanueva and Marvin Calda were drinking on the sidewalk when Police Officer 1 Jose Tandog and Police Officer 1 Chito Enriquez accosted them.
While in the detention cell, Tandog hit them with a nightstick, as if showing his prowess of using it.
Enriquez, too, was shown about to draw his gun.
Brutalities like this one have been happening behind the scene unrecorded and unreported. Fortunately, the cruelty and arrogance of Tandog were recorded when surreptitiously, Marvin, the drinking partner of Mac Glen, recorded and uploaded these, and the video had gone viral in social media.
These two police officers are beginners, and it seems that the newness of power accompanying the police uniform has gone to their heads. While these acts of cruelty are despicable, there are also some untold and unrecognized acts of heroism by men in uniform.
Just last week, police officers were shown carrying an aged man on their backs and braving the bullets just to save lives of those caught in the crossfire in Marawi City.
What does the police officer’s uniform stand for, and why are cops armed with powerful weapons?
Why are there police officers?
The Philippine National Police (PNP) was established on Dec. 13, 1990 under Republic Act No. 6975, An Act Establishing the PNP under the Reorganized Department of Interior and Local Government and Other Purposes. This law ended the existence of the Philippine Constabulary and gave birth to the PNP.
In 1998, RA 8551, The PNP Reform and Reorganization Act, defines further the PNP to be a community and service-oriented agency. Unless police officers forget, their motto is, “We serve and protect.”
The PNP core values are Service, Honor and Justice, and one of its five pledges is, “I will oblige myself to maintain a high standard of morality and professionalism”. However, the novelty of power, the honor that goes with the uniform, and the claim of having authority distort one’s sense of propriety and good judgment.
I used to teach as a special lecturer at the National Public Safety College in Region 6, and my students, police officers, impressed me with their demeanor, courtesy and mastery of the PNP vision, mission, core values and pledges.
Sadly, the many cases of police brutalities and arrogance show that the trainings and the inculcation of discipline in the PNP do not guarantee the formation of a value-laden, dignified gentlemen. (delsocorrodaquila@gmail.com/PN)
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