BODY FORMED TO PROBE PNPA PRACTICES
SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday urged the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) to punish the three cadets allegedly involved in the hazing of two plebes.
The senator said, “heads must roll at the Philippine National Police Academy for the despicable sexual hazing incident involving three PNPA cadets and two plebes.”
The Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) Director Ricardo de Leon told reporters in Camp Crame that they would form a fact-finding committee to identify illegal practices happening inside the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) after the oral sex controversy among their cadets.
The committee will have four members led by Chief Supt. Ramon Rafael, director of the National Police Training Institute.
A report about the incident stated an upperclassman ordered two male plebes to perform oral sex while two upperclassmen watched. The upperclassmen are sons of a PNP official and a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology official.
“The purpose of the fact-finding committee is to identify what other practices inside PNPA should be addressed so that that we can form policies addressing them,” de Leon said.
He added that this “grave offense” would lead to the dismissal of the upperclassmen involved.
De Leon said the cadets were aware of the consequences they face for the act that they did, as after all cadets were made aware of the anti-hazing law in the academy.
“They have the full knowledge and therefore, they are properly warned,” he said.
Gatchialian said that Congress passed the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 or Republic Act 11053 “precisely to punish without mercy hazing perepetrators like them.”
“The PNPA administration must ensure that these disgraced cadets are prosecuted under RA 11053 and thrown behind bars for a very long time,” he said.
He urged the PNPA officials “to dismantle the culture of hazing that seems well-entrenched in the academy despite the passage of the new anti-hazing law.”
“This is not how the future leaders of our national police force should act. It is disgraceful, to say the least,” Gatchalian said.
The PNPA has already filed administrative cases against the suspects while the victims filed criminal cases against them.
DILG officer in charge Eduardo Año earlier ordered the relief of Chief Supt. Joseph Adnol as the PNPA director.
Meanwhile, PNP Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said the incident is proof the training of future police officers in PNPA should be transferred from the DILG to PNP.