Please allow us to clarify some issues raised in your editorial “Unending police misconduct” (11/1/18).
During my confrontation with PO1 Eduardo Valencia who was accused of raping the daughter of drug suspects, he said “Sir, may pamilya po ako. Sir, hindi na po bago sa ating mga operatiba ’yung ganon… kapag may nahuli po tayong drug pusher, Sir.”
This statement of Valencia may suggest a lot of things, but he was actually referring to the customary countercharges filed by drug suspects against the operatives to put the police in a bad light and to cast doubt on the arrest of these drug suspects.
The word “ganon” alludes to the countercharges usually filed by arrested drug suspects, and this is nothing new in our illegal drugs campaign.
It was stated in the said editorial that Valencia made a horrific admission, and we quote: “Yes — the horrific admission by that same cop, before his irate boss and TV cameras, that what he did was nothing new and in fact was standard operating procedure among police operatives going after alleged drug pushers who are married.”
The subject policeman then supposedly revealed something about the practice of “palit-puri”: “As if that wasn’t revolting enough, Valencia would then reveal, in a moment of panic during a public confrontation with… Eleazar, that ‘palit-puri’—the crassly described exchange of sexual favors from a suspect or a relative for the dropping of drug charges—was par for the course among the police.”
For the record, there was no such admission or revelation made or mentioned by the said policeman. Doing so would convict Valencia on the spot. It is tantamount to admitting that he indeed raped the girl, and an admission is a prima facie evidence against him that can result in an automatic conviction.
On the contrary, he vehemently denied that he raped the girl. What the subject policeman asserted when I confronted him was that the rape accusation was just another customary countercharge that they (operatives) are subjected to by the suspects when arrests are made.
Given the evidence and the testimony of the victim, I consider the statement of Valencia as an alibi. In fact, I have asked our investigators to give priority to this case and to immediately file the necessary criminal and administrative charges against the said policeman.
Definitely, we do not condone illegal and irregular activities among our ranks. As you may have seen and read on various media platforms, we have been relentless in going after personnel who are a disgrace to our uniform under the intensified “Internal Cleansing” program of our chief, PNP Director General Oscar D. Albayalde.
It is a challenge that we continuously and arduously take on, as we are committed to weed out the scalawags and misfits in the force.
Available data from our Discipline, Law and Order Section-National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) show that from January 2016 to October 2018, 426 policemen have been dismissed from the service, 86 have been demoted, 4,209 have been relieved and/or penalized with suspension for administrative cases with possibility of dismissal.
GUILLERMO LORENZO T. ELEAZAR,
Police Director and Regional Director,
National Capital Region Police Office