New Philippine National Police Chief

This editorial is rather an exception for this newspaper Malaya. Most of the time editorials concentrate on criticising the Arroyo government and sometimes the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) as well. Opinion polls show that PNP is not all that well regarded by many Filipinos nor are the AFP but this editorial seems to give the departing police chief some credit for doing a good job. As the article notes too the transition seems to have taken place without any plotting in the background!


Well done, Mr. Razon
Editorial
‘Well done, Mr. Razon. And welcome Mr. Verzosa.’
PNP chief Avelino Razon is turning over the baton today to Jesus Verzosa without fuss. Just the usual turnover ceremonies to be presided by Gloria Arroyo immediately after her arrival from a week-long visit to the United States. No controversies. That’s how changes of command ought to be. Chiefs come and go; the institution carries on.
A similar thing happened when Alexander Yano became AFP chief of staff. No attempts by other aspirants to appeal to "padrinos" in Palace, at least nothing we have heard of. Hopefully, we are now seeing the growing maturity of the uniformed services.
Razon leaves a PNP saddled with the usual problems. Lack of policemen; inadequate equipment, including service firearms, communication equipment and vehicles; and low pay and meager benefits. It all boils down to lack of money, which is not about to be corrected soon given the other equally pressing demands on the Treasury.
The PNP had to make do with available resources. Razon, given the constraints, has delivered.
Criminality has slightly decreased, which we suppose is achievement enough given the worsening economic situation. The key is Razon’s policy of putting more men and women on the streets and pouring most of the PNP’s resources into the field.
There has also been a noticeable improvement in the police’s observance of human rights. There have been less incidents of torture and disappearances. The blot on this score is the abduction of Jun Lozada at the airport. But given the propensity of Malacañang to resist all efforts at uncovering the truth behind each and every case of thievery, of which the $239 million broadband deal was only the latest, it is probably a comfort that there have been not more Lozadas.
On the anti-terrorism front, there have been no large-scale attacks mounted against civilians. There have been the occasional bombing attempts in Mindanao. A few have succeeded, but many more have been thwarted by the police. Expecting the police to put an end to terror acts is probably wishful thinking given that these are rooted in an underlying insurgency.
On the counter-insurgency front, the 2010 deadline for the AFP and the PNP to rout the communist rebellion is sure to be missed. There also appears to be no early resolution of the armed secessionist movement in the South.
The AFP and the PNP, however, cannot be expected to solve a fundamentally political problem, more so given the erosion of people’s trust in the Gloria administration.
While its components in the long run cannot rise above the level of this corrupt and incompetent administration, at least the PNP is trying and, at times, succeeding in doing so.
Well done, Mr. Razon. And welcome Mr. Verzosa.