PNPA grad hits arrogance of PMA alumni

Cadets of the elite Philippine Military Academy (Photo by Gabriel Ortigoza, former member Corp of
Professor PMA)

BY MORTZ C.ORTIGOZA

 DAVAO CITY – A mid level officer of the police who is an alumnus of the Philippine National Police Academy assailed the hubris and elitist mentality of some members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) after they recommended that the Philippine National Police should start accepting again graduates of the PMA. The decorated official, who was assigned in Pangasinan, said the members of the Philippine Military Academy  Alumni Association (PMAAA) and generals at Camp Crame failed to see how graduates of the PMA and PNPA, the lateral entry, and those officials who rose from the rank live in harmony at the PNP. “The entry of PMA graduate to the PNP to infuse a brand new kind leadership is a non-issue,” he said.
He lamented the proposal to accept the graduates of the Baguio City based academy is an elitist thinking. “These people from PMAAA thought they have the Torrens title or franchise at the the PNP,” the police official stressed. He said PMAyers were responsible in building the bad image of the Philippine Constabulary (precursor of the present police force) and the PNP. “They got Colonel (Dionesio) Borromeo (who was convicted and now incarcerated at the national penitentiary) who was involved in the P1 trillion shabu hoard in Naguillan, La Union. PMAyers like General (Carlos) Garcia, General (Angelo) Reyes, General Jacinto Ligot, and former PNP chief of staff Avelino Razon were sued with either the non-bailable plunder or graft and corruption. He said there are those generals at the PNP who were involved in cheating for the election of then president Gloria M. Arroyo”. He said the PNPA was created and brought up by the PMAyers.
“It was introduced in 1978 for members of the PC/INP (Integrated National Police) who want to be officer. It used to accept college graduates who were eventually trained at Silang, Cavite for two years. He explained that in 1980, PNPA started training cadets for four-year course just like their counterparts at the PMA. “The PNPA started accepting high school graduates. PNPA and PMA have the same tradition because of the PMA graduates who mentor them. We have the same cat calls and lingo. We call our classmate from the academy as “mistah”, too. When we were plebes we sneaked to get food we call as “take life”. He said a PNPA graduate has advantage over a PMAyer in terms of police work. He explained that a cadet at the PNPA learned the Revised Penal Codes, the Rules of Court, investigation, community relation while his counterpart at Fort del Pilar in Baguio City learned only the Revised Penal Codes.
 “The police are honed with community service. Before we go to a place we size up the community relation with the police fares in the area. We work with the community to maintain peace and order”. He said graduates of the PMA are mission oriented. “What they do is search and destroys. They fuck the community and not build it”. He said the perception of PMAyers is better than PNPAyers is a non-issue. “Ang competence ay nasa tao. Merong gagong graduate sa U.P (University of the Philippines), merong matino at magaling na graduate sa U.L (University of Luzon in Dagupan City)”.
He said the PNPA alumni at the police, who composed the bulk of the officers’ corps of the police, opt to be silent on the raucous raised by PMAAA and Senior Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac. “Let them (PMAAA) self-destruct on the crap they mouthed,” he said.
Recently, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said it was impossible to accept graduates of the PMA to the PNP because they are barred by the Constitution to join the police force. Article XVI, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution states that, "The State shall establish and maintain one police force, which shall be national in scope and civilian in character."

PNPA, PMA grads as fried chicken, crispy ‘pata’

PNPA Cadets

The “greasy” proposition of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Alumni Association to let graduates of the country’s foremost military school join the police force does not appear palatable to Malacañang. President Aquino’s spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, quickly shot down the idea. Lacierda took to task Reuben Theodore Sindac, Philippine National Police spokesman, for his public pronouncement on Monday likening PNP Academy graduates to “fried chicken” and PMA graduates to crispy “pata” (pig knuckles) to point out that these officers should go together. PNPA cadets at Cavite Lacierda reminded Sindac that the Constitution clearly states that the police force is civilian in character, and should remain that way for the foreseeable future. Sindac has apparently backtracked, telling Lacierda that “he was just laying down the options, but he has never (endorsed the reentry of military into the police force).” Recalling his conversation with Sindac, Lacierda said at a briefing on Wednesday: “I asked him categorically: ‘Did you make a statement to the effect that you want the military back in the PNP?’ He didn’t say that categorically. He categorically said he never advocated that position… and neither do we; we have not seen any stand to that effect.” Sindac told Lacierda that he did not make “any stand or opinion on that issue,” but “only presented the options that were submitted for study to them and their possible effects.” PMA alumni proposal But Sindac told an earlier news briefing that the proposal made by the PMA Alumni Association had prompted the PNP Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine Development to create a technical working group to study the reentry of PMA graduates into the PNP. Lacierda clarified that neither the Palace nor the PNP leadership had made a stand on the proposal. “The PNP, so far, has no stand on the return of the military or the PMA graduates into the PNP because, if you notice, in the general provision of the Constitution, there will be one police (unit), Philippine National Police, (with) civilian in character. That’s what the Constitution says,” Lacierda said. He emphasized that the idea was not being talked about within the policy circle of the Cabinet. “There was no categorical statement from the PNP and we have not seen that option. The only time we saw that was in the newspaper, in Inquirer (Tuesday). That’s why I had to ask the person who allegedly made that statement and he categorically said he never advocated that position,” said Lacierda. Civilian in character The demilitarization of the police force is a legacy of the first Aquino presidency in response to abuses and other human rights violations committed by the Philippine Constabulary/Integrated National Police during martial law. In 1991, then President Corazon Aquino signed Republic Act No. 6975 creating the PNP that is distinct from the Armed Forces of the Philippines since the newly minted police organization will be national in scope but civilian in character. The law was fully implemented the following year, with the PMA Tanglaw-Diwa Class of 1992 becoming the last batch of military graduates entering the PNP. But the last PMA graduate to bow out of police service will not happen until 2026, when this batch reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56. The PNP Academy was established to train future police officers for “public safety”—ensuring local peace and order, and doing law enforcement work. The PNP Academy is tasked with undertaking preparatory education and professional training for the three uniformed bureaus of the Department of the Interior and Local Government: the PNP, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. RA 6975 made the academy into a premier institution for the training, human resource development and continuing education of all police, fire and jail personnel. Internal, external threats PNPA graduates are trained to be “public safety” officers, working closely with communities, while PMA graduates are entrusted with the heavy burden of defending flag and country against internal and external threats. The PNP Academy has produced thus far at least four (one-star) generals belonging to Class of 1983 in a police organization that is still dominated by PMA alumni. Entering the police force seems palatable to the PMA because PNPA cadets become inspectors (lieutenant) upon completion of a four-year Bachelor of Science in Public Safety degree. One rank ahead The new inspectors are one rank ahead of their PMA counterparts, who become second lieutenants upon graduation and are expected to join the fighting against insurgents and secessionist rebels. While there has been a notable decline in the number of applicants for PMA cadetship over the years, the PNPA has attracted as many as 30,000 applicants per year. Only 300 police applicants will eventually qualify, but this number is expected to go down further to 200 as the “mortality rate” reaches 100 for the duration of the four-year course. Several PNP officers claim that this could have been one of the reasons PMA graduates have been pushing for the reentry of military-trained officers into the police force. In the past, the PMA was able to recruit the best and the brightest high school senior students because of the prospect of joining either the military or police service before the enactment of RA 6975. There are 95 star-rank officers in the PNP. Of these officials, 10 are PNPA alumni, one is a military reservist and two entered the PNP via lateral entry (technical services). The rest—82 chief superintendents and directors (equivalent to generals in the military)—are PMA graduates. Only one PNPA graduate has reached two-star rank in the PNP, Police Director Danilo Abarsoza, who retired last December. The PNPA, however, has the upper hand in the lower ranks: only 390 are PMA graduates compared with 3,890 from the PNPA.(By Michael Lim Ubac)