Steering the National Police Commission towards a more citizen centric service delivery /
Juanita P. Padua-Pontanal.
- 156 leaves : color illustrations
Public Management Development Program
The 1987 Constitution assures its people the maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and the promotion of the general welfare that are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of democracy (Section 5, Article II). To give life to this provision, the Constitution directed the establishment of a police force that is national in scope and civilian in character to be administered and controlled by a national police commission (Article XVI, Section 6) under Republic Act No. 6975, as amended by Republic Act No. 8551. Sixteen (16) years after the NAPOLCOM was granted summary dismissal powers to discipline the police, available statistical data from 2003 to 2013 shows the steadily rising number of pending summary dismissal cases in NAPOLCOM. From 755 pending summary dismissal cases in 2003, the number of pending cases as of 2013 is now at 3,050. Without a constant and corresponding rise in the number of summary dismissal cases decided every year, NAPOLCOM will soon be unable to cope with its case load without any intervention. Special projects were undertaken in 2011 and 2013 to expeditiously decide the pending summary dismissal cases but the scheme proved not efficient enough to move the backlog. The collegial decisions of summary dismissal cases of the NAPOLCOM is part of one of the two (2) major final outputs (MFO) or goods and services that NAPOLCOM is mandated to deliver to external clients - the Juan and Juana's or the citizens of the Republic of the Philippines. However, the involvement of policemen in criminal activities, involving those that have pending undecided summary dismissal cases before NAPOLCOM created doubt on its ability to provide its citizens with an efficient and trustworthy police force. For lack of any immediate alternative to ease the backlog, especially for older cases, the special project scheme will have to remain in the meantime. But it is strongly encouraged that the Chairman and Commissioners, drawing from their past and recent experiences, should promulgate an internal rule to govern its deliberations over the pending summary dismissal cases for decision, before assigning the cases to the ponencia or for drafting the decision to improve efficiency, before commencing another special project. Given the existence of a website, the compilation and collation of the previous decisions of the Commission by it Library, for publication in the said website by the ITMD, must be immediately directed through a resolution or memorandum circular. This should assist the drafters and the Commission in its next special project in producing more consistent and robust decisions. The synergy that will be generated by the innovations in the manner the Commission decides the summary dismissal cases and the collaboration to publish its decisions between the LAS, the library and the ITMD will considerably inform and satisfy the clamor of the general public for information about the summary dismissal cases before the NAPOLCOM. To further improve efficiency, the formal hearing phase will be abbreviated; ICT will be harnessed to permanently address the backlog; and do away with the special project. To minimize the chances of policemen committing misbehaviors and consequently of administrative cases filed against them, pre-emptive and integrative policies for the PNP have to be prescribed by the Commission. This is however, without prejudice to amending certain provisions of Republic Act No. 6975, as amended by Republic Act No. 8551 to consider revising the membership of the collegial body; decentralizing the disciplinary powers of NAPOLCOM; minimizing or eliminating overlapping jurisdictions; and institutionalizing and establishing clear delineation of the remaining disciplinary authorities to provide the citizens a more trustworthy police.