Can Bato purge the PNP of misfits?

It is a crime that nobody thought would be committed under an administration that waves the flag of change and whose main thrust is to eradicate crime, specifically the illegal drugs trade. We are referring to the kidnapping by policemen of a Korean national and his killing right inside Camp Crame while ransom was demanded from his family.

This led to those scandalized by the incident, including supporters of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte like House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, to call for the resignation of Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. The message was that somebody has to take a hit for what happened. The idea was shot down by the President, though.

But it would have been good had dela Rosa heeded those calls and voluntarily resigned to pave the way for a new start, sort of, on the matter of purging the PNP of scalawags. Perhaps a new PNP chief could better do it. But that depends heavily on who the President chooses as dela Rosa’s replacement. Since he is sticking to Bato, the hope is that dela Rosa has learned from the incident and will begin the purge.

Bigger than Bato, however, is the Duterte administration’s mistake of waging the war on drugs and other forms of criminality without effecting a thoroughgoing cleansing of the PNP ranks. We already pointed that out even during the campaign period. The success of any anti-crime drive is dependent on the machinery that will be unleashed against it, which is the PNP. If police elements are incompetent or, worse, corrupt, then the campaign will fail.

The uncovering of the kidnap/slay case, called “tokhang-for-ransom” by some, begs the question of how many “tokhangs-for-ransom” were committed before the last one was exposed. Related to it is the matter of extrajudicial killings done supposedly in pursuit of the drive against the illegal drugs trade. How many of the victims were killed by scalawags in uniform either to merely impress their commanders or to silence those who knew their links to the trade?

These should be looked into if dela Rosa honestly wants to rid the police organization of scalawags.