Sy, Angelo Bilton Cheng

Sept 25, 2018

Legal Writing
Atty. Michael Guerrero

“How do you curb abuses from the police”

Oplan tokhang1 which resulted to the alleged “extra judicial killing”, some allegations of
palit-ulo system2, instances of the abuse in the issuance of subpoena and in search and seizure
operations conducted3, allegations of paid killings and planting of evidence4, incidents of
“hulidap” or where a person will be arrested or detained by police officers for an alleged
infraction of the law and will only be released in exchange of money5, police involvement in
extortion and drugs6, and many more incidents are just some of the known, documented and
publicized abusive activities being conducted by some of the Philippine Policeman. Some of
these men in uniform serves as protectors for some big drug lords, cartels and syndicates7. In fact
some of these policeman themselves joins the private armies formed by some of these drugs
lords, syndicates and politicians.8
Involvement of cops and other public officials in illegal activities namely in drugs were
very much highlighted when President Duterte came to power.9 However both documented and
undocumented police abuses existed way back before. During the martial law era, there were
countless police abuses under the then Philippine Constabulary that were being reported. During

1
What you need to know about Oplan Tokhang”, SunStar Philippines , accessed September 11, 2018,
https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/416123
2
“ PNP Chief confirms ‘palit-ulo’ scheme, clarifies procedure”, CNN Philippines, accessed September 11, 2018,
http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/03/20/Palit-ulo-scheme-PNP-Bato-Dela-Rosa-Leni-Robredo.html
3
“IBP- Lanao Del Sur condemns alleged illegal searches. seizures in Marawi”, PhilStar Global, accessed September
11, 2018 https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/06/22/1712584/ibp-lanao-del-sur-condemns-alleged-illegal-
searches-seizures-marawi
4
“Police paid to kill drug suspects, plant evidence- Reuters report”, Inquirer, accessed September 11, 2018,
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/890257/police-paid-to-kill-drug-suspects-plant-evidence-reuters-report
5
“7 EDSA ‘hulidap’ cops elude arrest”, ABSCBN News, accessed September 11, 2018, https://news.abs-
cbn.com/nation/metro-manila/06/30/15/7-edsa-hulidap-cops-elude-arrest
6
“PNP-CITF arrests 2 rookie cops for extortion”, GMA News Online, accessed September 11, 2018,
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/metro/626764/pnp-citf-arrests-2-rookie-cops-for-extortion/story/
7
“Duterte names police generals ‘protecting drug rings’”, GMA News Online, accessed September 11, 2018,
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/572476/duterte-names-police-generals-protecting-drug-
rings/story/.
8
“Philippine Police tag 60 ‘private armies’”, ABSCBN News, accessed September 11, 2018, https://news.abs-
cbn.com/nation/11/05/12/philippine-police-tag-60-private-armies.
9
“ List: Public officials Duterte said are involved in illegal drugs”, PhilStar Global, accessed September 11,2018,
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/08/07/1611013/list-public-officials-duterte-said-are-involved-illegal-
drugs.
the years 1972-1986, there was an unofficial count of the following incidents: Torture (5,531),
Summary Execution (2,537), Disappearances (783), Public Order Violation Arrests (92,607).10
However all these are being denied by the former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.11 I’ve heard from
my grandparents some stories on how policeman would threaten them in exchange for money. In
the present time, some sectors and personalities claim that there exists violation and abuses in the
execution of the PNP war of drugs campaign under the Oplan Tokhang or Oplan Double
Barrel12. Word in the street is that there is a cash reward being given to these policeman for
every “tokhang” they make which is around P10,000. This also includes killings of not only
suspected drug users and pushers but also included are suspected rapist, pickpockets, swindlers,
alcoholics and other troublemakers in exchange of quick cash.13 . As of August 22, 2018, Over
600 policemen were charged by the PNP of violating human rights with over 300 charged with
the Commission on Human Rights14 .Within NCR, most of the killings were from Manila
(Tondo), Caloocan and Quezon City15. The highly criticized Oplan Tokhang or Oplan Double
Barrel, reached a new high of criticism when an alleged 17 years old drug courier named Kian
Lloyd Delos Santos was shot dead for allegedly fighting back or “Nanlaban,” which however
was contradicted by the CCTV footage in the area.16 This infamous incident clearly showed
everyone that indeed there are abuses made by the policemen in conducting the Oplan Tokhang .
Then with the recent arrest Bocaue Bulacan police chief, Juwen Dela Cruz, it was revealed that
Juwen Dela Cruz would confiscate items from some people and would then use it to extort
money from the victims among them was one Montero SUV, one Toyota Vios, one Toyota Wigo
and 2 motorcycles among others.17 Also recently, the raid of Arnold Padilla’s house raised some
questions on the search and seizure procedure,Padilla claims that there were violations on how
the search and seizure procedure was conducted. A CCTV footage was shown that there might
have been a breach in the protocol as to how the search should have been conducted and that

10
“ The Haunting of Martial Law: Records from the Marcos Regime”, UH School of Law Library, University of
Hawai’I at Manoa, accessed September 11, 2018, https://library.law.hawaii.edu/2017/09/07/the-haunting-of-
martial-law-records-from-the-marcos-regime/
11
“ Malacanang on Enrile’s claim: Court record shows human rights violations during martial law”, UNTV News and
Rescue, accessed September 25, 2018, https://www.untvweb.com/news/malacanang-on-enriles-claim-court-
records-show-human-rights-violations-during-martial-law//
12
“Draft Senate report on killings: Oplan Tokhang unconstitutional”, Rappler Philippines, accessed September 11,
2018, https://www.rappler.com/nation/154738-draft-senate-report-extrajudicial-killings-oplan-tokhang-
unconstitutional
13
“Special Report: Police describe kill rewards, staged crime scenes in Duterte’s drug war”, Reuters, accessed
September 11, 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-duterte-police-specialrep/special-report-
police-describe-kill-rewards-staged-crime-scenes-in-dutertes-drug-war-idUSKBN17K1F4.
14
“PNP chief: Over 600 police charged with human rights violations”, CNN Philippines, accessed September 25,
2018, http:// http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/22/PNP-Chief-Oscar-Albayalde-Oplan-Tokhang-human-
rights-violations.html
15
“Poor Filipinos most vulnerable in Duterte’s drug war: Study”, ABSCBN News, accessed September 11,2018,
https://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/06/25/18/poor-filipinos-most-vulnerable-in-dutertes-drug-war-study
16
“ Kian Lloyd Delos Santos, 17, killed in drug crackdown”, Aljiazeera, accessed September 11, 2018,
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/kian-loyd-delos-santos-17-killed-drug-crackdown-
170818131943660.html
17
“Bocaue police chief arrested for extortion”, Rappler, accessed September 25,2018,
https://www.rappler.com/nation/212568-bocaue-bulacan-police-chief-arrested-extortion
claims of planting of evidence were raised by them18. The arrest made of the 3 lawyers by the
Makati Police at a bar in Makati also raised some questions on how the arrest was made. There
were some who called the arrest as “clearly violated basic rights and rudimentary legal
process”19. During the Aquino administration, the lucrative life style of the inmates which
included among others, drug lords and high profile murderers, in the maximum security
compound of the New Bilibid Prison was exposed. It was disclosed that these high profile
inmates bribed the officers in charge for them to be allowed to live such a lucrative life inside the
cell.20. These documented abuses and so much more undocumented abuses by some of the cops
in the Philippines has become a stigma in our society. How ironic is it that those who are
supposed to protect the Filipino people from these unwanted, illegal and abusive acts are
themselves involved, facilitating, perpetrating such unwanted, illegal, and abusive acts.
Base on the above mentioned facts, how do we now curb, prevent or stop these police
abuses? On all the above mentioned abuses made by police, there is a common theme in all of
these and that is the fact that most of these acts were done in exchange for money. It is well
documented that the Philippines as a whole has one of the highest poverty rate in the world. In
fact as of 2016, according to the data collected from International Monetary Fund, the
Philippines ranked 69th out of the 189th poorest countries in the world.21. Government services
just are not enough. Public health care services offered by government hospitals are way below
the standard that Filipino people deserves and are pale in comparison with those given by private
hospitals22.Also public education provided by the government is not enough Lack of classrooms,
lack of chairs, lack of competent educators, lack of basic utilities, and the likes have been
greeting the public school students on a yearly basis.23 It’s really unfortunate that there have been
some news report wherein some criminology students and aspiring policeman/policewoman
themselves were caught in illegal activities namely selling of illegal drugs.24.How can we now
remove the stigma in our society, renew our faith and bring back the honor in our police
personnel wherein some of those aspiring policeman are already involved in illegal activities
even before they dawned the uniform.
For the Philippines to attain its much sought after peace and justice, its people must have
faith in the police forces. When president Duterte came into power last 2016, one of his priority
agendas was to clean up the police ranks in PNP. First thing he did was to remove those so called
“scalawag cops” namely those who are involved in illegal activities and or protectors of those

18
“Businessman’s lawyer accuses cops of planting evidence”, ABSCBN News, accessed September 11, 2018,
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/25/18/businessmans-lawyer-accuses-cops-of-planting-evidence.
19
“UP Law acamde slams arrest of Makati bar lawyers”, PhilStar Global, accessed September 11, 2018,
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/08/21/1844614/law-academe-slams-arrest-makati-bar-lawyers
20
In Photos: Drug Lords, murderers, and high living in Bilibid, Rappler Philippines, accessed September 11, 2018,
https://www.rappler.com/nation/78395-new-bilibid-prison-vip.
21
“Poorest Countries In the World”, Global Finance, accessed September 13, 2018,
https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/the-poorest-countries-in-the-world?page=12.
22
“Health Care”, PhilStar Global, accessed September 13, 2018,
https://www.philstar.com/business/2017/08/15/1729494/healthcare.
23
“ Education in the Philippines, ACDEducation, accessed September 13, 2018,
https://abcdeducation.weebly.com/about-poor-facilities-in-public-schools.html.
24
“Criminology student nabbed in drug buy-bust in Abra”, GMA News Online, accessed September 13, 2018,
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/regions/652593/criminology-student-nabbed-in-drug-buy-bust-in-
abra/story/.
involved in such acts.25 were involved in illegal activities and drug trades. The next thing that
president Duterte did was to increase the salaries and benefits given to the Philippine police in
order for them to keep up with the ever increasing prices of the basic commodities26 and to deter
them from committing illegal activities.27 So basically what the president did was to strengthen
the central authority which would impose and enforce out the necessary sanctions and
punishment for violations done by the policeman and woman. And the second one was the timely
and much needed salary increase and additional benefits of the Philippine police personnel. I
personally believe that not all of those police personnel who resorted in doing some of these
illegal and abusive activities in exchange for money are inherently evil by nature but some of
them resorted to such acts due to them being in dire need for finances or in the Filipino term
“Kumapit sa Patalim”. These above mentioned 2 actions taken by the President are definitely on
top of the list as to how to curb abuses from the police.However much is still needed to be done.
Reformations must be made within the ranks of the Philippine National Police. A change of
culture must be made28. Accountability should be the key for the successful implementation of
this. The local police officer should be held directly held accountable administratively and if
needed, criminally, for the illegal, unlawful and abusive acts done by his personnel. It must be
ensured that criminal and administrative chargers would be filled against these abusive police
should they be caught doing unlawful and illegal acts as it would be very much impractical for
the president to oversee all this on a day to day basis. So to sum to it up a stronger central
authority must be made to insure that the local police chief would be held accountable
administratively and if needed, criminally, for the unlawful and illegal acts done by their
personnel with the end goal of reforming the Philippine National Police and to deter the other
police officers from committing the same illegal activity. Also harsher criminal and
administrative sanctions should be imposed and executed to those local police chief who would
be caught involved in such acts or who would tolerate any of their personnel in doing any illegal
activities. The next solution would be the increase of the policemen salaries and benefits which
President Duterte has already done and made it his priority upon assuming presidency. Again by
increasing the salaries and benefits given to the Philippine police, it would at the very least help
address one of the issue as to why these people will resort into doing such illegal acts, and that is
because of the need for money29. Although for some, the increase in the salary and benefits of
these policemen might not be significant but at the very least it would be of help in addressing
some of the problems our policemen and women are facing in life.
The abovementioned solutions might be able to curb and address the abuses made and
conducted by our policemen but there are still abusive acts that are being conducted and
concerted but not in exchange for money. There are some police officers who do such abusive

25
“Duterte to fire 70 police officials, 3 generals”, Inquirer.net, accessed September 13, 2018,
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/959541/breaking-duterte-to-fire-70-police-officials-3-generals.
26
“Pulse Asia: Most Filipinos strongly affected’ by price hikes in basic goods, ABSCBN news, accessed September
25,2018, https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/27/18/pulse-asia-most-filipinos-strongly-affected-by-price-hikes-
in-basic-goods
27
“Police officers to receive pay hike this month”, ABSCBN News, accessed September 9, 2018, https://news.abs-
cbn.com/news/01/11/18/police-officers-to-receive-pay-hike-this-month.
28
“Reforming the PNP”, Ping Lacson Net, accesed September 25, 2018,
https://pinglacson.net/2018/08/20/editorial-reforming-the-pnp-peoples-tonight/
29
“What’s wrong with Philippine cops”, Rappler, accessed September 15, 2018,
https://www.rappler.com/world/regions/us-canada/67190-ferguson-funeral-michael-brown.
acts like torturing a suspect caught in an illegal act, or the excessive beatings on prisoners which
are acts that constitutes human rights violation and abuses on the part of the policeman and the
alleged use of “wheel of torture”30 only for the sake of having fun.31. Although these acts are not
conducted in exchange for money or any material things but might have been conducted due to
their inherent hatred for these wrong doers but their actions still amounts to abusive acts and are
in violation of a person’s human rights. Another way to curb abuses acts from police that I would
like to suggest is to institute a mandatory weekly counseling and therapy sessions for all
policemen to be conducted by a professional psychiatric clinic in coordination with the
Philippine National Police and the Department of Health. This is to ensure that the Philippine
police personnel will have a venue wherein they can ventilate their problems, grievances in
connection to their duty and in their personnal life and that the members of the Philippine
National Police can received their mental health checked. So that they may be guided correctly in
life and in fulfilling their sworn duty for our country.
It has been proven that counseling definitely works both in the short term and over longer
time periods32 Counselling and psychotherapy not only helps a person in coping up with their
feelings, problems, and the likes but it also works towards solutions. Some benefits of
psychotherapy includes : understanding your mental health condition, make sense of past
traumatic experiences, identify triggers that may worsen your symptoms, develop a plan for
coping with crisis, understanding why things bother you and what you can do about them33.
Causes of abusive behaviors are due to many factors namely, empathy deficit, brain damage,
abusive childhood and the likes. They treat people as though they were there solely for their
convenience and do not otherwise have an independent, important life. Abusers who treat people
in this manner are very likely psychologically ill, and possibly medically ill as well34. With the
passage of the Philippine Mental Health Law, the mental health of our policeman and the
Filipino people can be properly addressed35.
Society at present looks at mental health problem as a social stigma. A stigma which was
embedded in the social framework to create inferiority. Labeling and stereotyping them gave rise
to a separation or a barrier. Thus people who are suffering from mental health problems are
afraid to seek medical treatment or counseling as they might be labeled or stereotyped 36.Thus
people tended to overlook the psychological health of these police personnel that we always
make the assumption and presumption that the only way to curb police abuses is through stricter

30
“ Philippine police accused of using wheel of torture”, New York Post, accessed September 9, 2018,
https://nypost.com/2014/01/28/philippine-police-accused-of-using-wheel-of-torture/.
31
“PNP suspends 10 cops over torture jail”, Rappler, accesed September 25, 2018,
https://www.rappler.com/nation/49085-10-cops-suspended-torture-jail.
32
“Evaluating therapeutic effectiveness in counseling and psychotherapy, Counselling Resource, accessed
September 15,2018, https://counsellingresource.com/therapy/types/effectiveness/.
33
“Why Do People Abuse”, Mental Health Net, accessed September 15, 2018,
https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/why-do-people-abuse/.
34
“Understanding talk therapy”, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, accessed September 15,2018.
https://secure2.convio.net/dabsa/site/SPageServer/PageServer;jsessionid=00000000.app204b?NONCE_TOKEN=68
C43139E1F02DD763BDB1CA810DFEA5&pagename=wellness_brochures_psychotherapy.
35
“Duterte signs Philippine Menta”, Rappler, accessed September 15, 2018,
https://www.rappler.com/nation/205425-duterte-signs-mental-health-law-services-philippines.
36
“Mental Health Stigma: Society, Individuals, and the Profession”, US National Library of Medicine National
Institute of Health, accessed September 25,2018, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3248273/
enforcement of rules and punishments and by increasing their salaries. However one’s mental
health goes hand in hand with one’s physical health. We should not forget the fact that for our
nation to be able to grow and move forward, peace and order is must be attained. And our much
sought after peace and order can be attained through effective and competent law enforcer which
is our armed personnel like the policeman and military. We must take these police abuses as
isolated incidents rather than it being the general trend in our police force and keep the faith in
our police personnel that they may exercise their functions faithfully. These 3 ways are the best
solutions I’ve come up with of as to how to curb police abuses 1)A stricter central authority or
power that would make the local police officer accountable criminally and or administratively
should that police officer or any of his personnel be involved in acts amounting to police abuses
2) A salary increase and more benefits to be given. When the means permits us to do so,
hopefully we can again increase their salaries. As our police personnels are an integral part of
our society and cannot be treated as a lowly job and lastly 3) Consultation and therapy. Some of
ouur police personnels might also be undergoing their own personnal battles. And through
consultation via a mandatory weekly conciliation and therapy, we can address these problems
that our police personnel are going through which in effect affects their performances.
With all illegal activities and acts mentioned above, should we take all of these unwanted
acts as the norm as to how the Philippine Police conduct their operation? Or should we rather
treat these unwanted incidents as isolated ones rather than treating it as the standard “police
operation”. I’d personally like to believe in the latter that these unwanted incidents are merely
isolated ones and were done by those who never deserved to dawn and wear the proud uniforms
of the Philippine Police in the first place. As I personally still believe in the integrity and
capability of the Philippine policeman to execute their sworn duty to protect its people rather
than doing the opposite. And that one day the Philippine Police can reclaim its old glory and lost
honor.