Splitting IAS from PNP/ ‘Militarizing’ school campuses

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY--- The resolution of the Regional Advisory Council (RAC) of the Internal Affairs Service in the Cordillera Administrative Region (IAS-CAR) seeking separation of the unit from the Philippine National Police (PNP) is a step in the right direction.

In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, lawyer Alan Antonio Mazo, chairman of the IAS-CAR RAC, said the call for the separation of the IAS from the PNP is timely considering the recent developments involving police officers, particularly the so-called "ninja cops."

A PNA report said the resolution “expressing support to the independence of the Internal Affairs Service and House Bill 3056.” Was signed by all 10 members on Oct. 23.

According to Mazo, “This should be nationwide reform on the disciplinary aspect of the policemen.”

He said the separation of the IAS is also gaining support from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the Senate, among other sectors.

House Bill 3056 was filed by PBA Party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles which seeks the transfer of the IAS under the Dept. of the Interior and Local Government.

IAS is currently under the Philippine National Police (PNP). The RAC resolution noted that the current setup defeats the purpose for which the IAS was created.

Republic Act 8551 amended the Republic Act 6975 for purposes of reforms and reorganizations of the PNP, including the creation of the IAS.

Mazo said once separated, the IAS will no longer depend on the PNP for its financial requirement to exist.

He said the IAS will fully serve as the monitoring body of the character and behavior of police officers and to fully operate as the investigating and adjudicatory body on all administrative offenses committed by PNP personnel, becoming a more effective part of its disciplinary mechanism.

RAC members said this system is the same in other countries like the United States where the IAS is able to perform its function without the “threat” and “management” of the police organization that it monitors and investigates. 

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The government wants a review of an old memorandum of agreement between the Dept. of National Defense and state universities and colleges that bars the presence of Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police personnel inside school campuses.

Dept. of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said that in line with the government’s “whole-of-nation-approach” in eliminating local armed conflict as stated in Executive Order 70, which created the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict, police presence in schools and universities can be increased to deter the recruitment program of leftist groups.

Last week, Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa said he will push a law that will remove the constraints against the conduct of education and information drive inside campuses using police and soldiers amid the aggressive recruitment of members of the communist movement.

According to Ano, “this fight is not only in red areas or in the provinces, but also in white areas — in cities, in our schools, factories. These are their target.”
He said the department will also conduct dialogues and increase its engagements with school authorities and the students “to raise awareness on the modus operandi of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).”

 “We’re not saying that student organizations are bad, but many of them have been infiltrated by communist groups,” he added.

According to Año, there are 500 to 1000 youths indoctrinated by the CPP-NPA every year and they either become members of the NPA or return to their respective schools as militant student leaders.

“They are using their alleged nationalism to teach children to kill and take up arms against the government,” he said.

“What happens now is that so many schools are deeply infiltrated by the CPP-NPA through their front organizations. Now, the rebels have corresponding member organizations in schools that we should be vigilant in guarding against,” he said.

He added it is unfortunate that Republic Act 1700 or the Anti-Subversion Act was repealed.
In the meantime, he said, the PNP has already initiated the filing of cases against front organizations identified through a recent Senate hearing and in the government’s own intelligence and investigations.

The DILG chief considers youth recruitment by leftist groups part of the communist groups’ elaborate campaign to overthrow the democratic government of the Philippines through armed struggle.

According to Ano, such activities are prevalent in urban centers where they actively recruit new members and extort revolutionary taxes from legitimate businessmen to fund their armed rebellion in the “red areas,” where they kill police officers and soldiers, government representatives, and anyone who opposes them.

“It’s part of their DNA to do these recruitments and unfortunately, they are able to brainwash our youth. That’s why let us work together so that no Filipino will again be persuaded to abandon their families,” Año said.

Local government units should exercise good governance to regain the people’s trust in government, according to Año.

But despite the pronouncements of Ano, some sectors are opposing the presence of police or military forces in school campuses. They are saying this is an intrusion on academic freedom wherein education should make the student think and evaluate situations like the armed conflict between the government and forces opposed to it like the CPP-NPA without undue interference from police or military forces right inside school campuses.