House Bill 5232 authored by 2nd District Congressman Romeo Acop of Antipolo City has been approved by the House on second reading. The bill aims to amend Section 28 of Republic Act 6975 for the purpose of allowing the Philippine National Police to revert to using military ranks with the proviso that the rank be preceded by the letter P to denote that the rank is police, not military. The move was immediately endorsed enthusiastically by the outgoing and incoming PNP Chiefs.
Senator Ping Lacson, however, a former PNP chief and currently the chair of the Peace and Order Committee of the Senate, is against the bill. His main reason is that the Constitution mandates that the country establish a police force that is national and scape but civilian in character.
This being the case, it is safe to assume that that House Bill 5236 will be facing rough sailing when it reaches the Senate. It is worth noting that Rep. Acop is himself a retired police officer with two stars on his shoulders. The bill of Rep. Acop and the ringing endorsement of the current PNP leadership are understandable. After more than a quarter of a century of using the current police ranks, star rank Police officers together with middle level officers are still being addressed using military ranks such as General or Colonel as the case may be. This is technically incorrect.
Will using military ranks automatically militarize the PNP and violate the Constitution?
Before we answer that question, it might be instructive to go back a bit. When the Philippine Constabulary/Integrated National Police was dissolved to form the new Philippine National Police by virtue of RA 6975, the officers coming from the Philippine Constabulary formed the backbone of the officer corps which up to this day is still the case, even as the number dwindles ever year. Since the Philippine Constabulary was essentially a military organization, the new PNP was naturally run like a military organization. This is in spite of the fact that the PNP leadership always made it a point to stress the civilian nature of the new Police organization. The PNP brass never really tried hard to transition to a truly civilian police organization to reflect the intention of the Constitution.
To be fair, there were efforts to move to something resembling a genuine civilian police organization. These have not been very successful. There were very good reasons for this. One is the nature of the prevailing peace and order situation at that time which actually has not changed very much. We still have the communist insurgency and others like the MILF, Abu Sayyaf and other terrorist groups which a purely civilian police organization is hard pressed to handle.
This is part of the reason why even if the PNP is now using civilian ranks, the organization has not changed radically since the old PC/INP days. Yes, the PC companies were dissolved but these were replaced by the Special Action Force organized into platoons, companies, and battalions which follow the military table of organization and equipment. Provincial Commanders are now called Provincial Directors while Regional Commanders are now called Regional Directors but the command structure and culture are still basically the same.
Although all police personnel regardless of rank are no longer governed by the articles of war, there are still summary dismissal proceedings and confinement to barracks or camp, very much like the military. The top PNP leadership which is basically composed of graduates from the Philippine Military Academy will all be gone by 2023 and will be replaced by graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy who might civilianize police management. But I would not hold my breath on this because the PNPA is very much a clone of PMA.
What we have in the PNP today is a hybrid organization. A police force that is neither completely military nor totally civilian. There is really no true defining identity of the PNP and this is the cause of many of the disciplinary problems being encountered by the organization. A good example of this was what happened to the police personnel from Caloocan City who were all relieved some time ago for various disciplinary infractions. Except for a handful who followed their transfer orders, most of them tried very hard to have their orders revoked and many of them in fact succeeded and are now back to their old assignments.
This would have not happened in the old Constabulary days. What should have happened in the intervening years between 1992 and 2018 was for the PNP leadership to have made a determined effort to find and develop an identity for the new police force that can inspire pride, loyalty, and Esprit de Corps within the rank and file.
Unfortunately, the PNP simply did not try hard enough. Had it succeeded, President Duterte would probably have not proposed that the Philippine Constabulary be resurrected. It seems that he has better understanding of the kind of police force that the country should have. Being from Mindanao, he realizes the limitations of the current PNP establishment and would want a police organization more able in confronting all current peace and order challenges.
Twenty-six years on, the PNP has not yet made up its mind whether to be more Constabulary or truly civilian. In the end, however, whatever police organization we will end up with, it must be a force capable of accomplishing all its mission. What makes an organization military are the long established practices, culture, doctrines and traditions and less of the kind of ranks it chooses to use.