A TOTAL of 55 erring police personnel are set to undergo the reformative training of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Subic, Zambales, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde said on Tuesday, August 6.

They comprise the second batch of policemen who will undergo such training, which will last for 30 days.

Albayalde said over 5,000 more erring policemen will undergo such program.

During the policemen’s send-off ceremony in Camp Crame, Albayalde berated the cops who were allegedly involved in “light and non-dismissible offenses” such as tardiness, crime against a person or property, absence without leave, irregularity in performing duties and mishandling of drug cases.

Albayalde said the program dubbed Focused Reformation and Moral Enhancement for Police Officers in Line with Internal Cleansing Efforts (FORM POLICE) aims to correct wrongdoings that have tainted the image of the entire national police agency.

“It's not the system, ang problema natin ay ‘yung pag uugali natin, tandaan nyo yan the problem is attitude, character yun ang problema natin, you may think that you are already senior, kung senior kayo you should not be doing what you should have done, wala kayo dapat rito di ba?” he said.

“Hindi dapat kayo nagagalit sa akin. I'm sure most of you here galit sa amin lalo na sa akin (most of you here are angry at me) and I don't care. Hindi ko pakialam ang galit nyo, ang pakialam ko is the organization, I cannot put you over and above the organization. Gentlemen, my priority is the PNP, not you,” he added.

Albayalde urged the policemen not to waste the second chance given to them by the organization.

“Make maximum of the time to reflect. You reflect gentlemen, huwag lang isipin nyo ang galit sa akin at sa mga opisyal dito o sa PNP, you reflect and then you’ll see, you pray then probably maliwanagan kayo kung bakit natin ginagawa ito, bakit natin kailangang gawin ito, this is the best time for you to pray and to reflect, this is the best time for you to become a better person or a better police officer,” he said.

(Don't just think about your anger. You reflect and pray and probably, you will be enlightened on why we are doing this, why we need to do this.)

The PNP chief said he was aware of the possible “bashing” he and the PNP leadership might get over its ongoing internal cleansing program.

Albayalde said the internal cleansing program is the hallmark of his leadership. It is being undertaken to rid the force of scalawags.

The PNP's reputation was tainted after several anti-narcotics policemen were tagged in the killing of a Korean businessmen. Several other officers have also been accused of extortion and other criminal activities. (SunStar Philippines)