By: Villamor C. Visaya Jr.
(Published in its print edition on June 7 – 13, 2025)
THE newest policy of the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief under Gen. Nicolas Torre III points to the usage of number of arrests.
Apparently, this performance gauge of receipts of arrests of criminals would be a big factor for wannabe officials as this is a major requirement for both the promotion and placement of assignments for police commanders.
Do not mistake this as the number of arrests out of the service of arrest warrants issued by courts. Instead, Torre is vouching for the warrantless arrest under the Rule 113 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedures.
Going back to the rules, it says: “A peace officer or a private person may, without a warrant, arrest a person: (a) When, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense;
(b) When an offense has just been committed, and he has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it; and
(c) When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or is temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another.”
Police officials banking on their MBA (May backer ako) would rather think twice or thrice.
If they aspire to be police chiefs, or those who want to be promoted, they must be active in running after the criminals, not merely going after them because of a court order.
It means that a police quick response must be reinforced.
This must be institutionalized and properly implemented.
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