Cayetano: Let us increase police salaries now

Fulfilling an electoral promise that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his running mate Senator Alan Cayetano made during the campaign season, the Senator filed a bill seeking to increase the salaries and other incentives of law enforcers in the country, particularly officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano

Cayetano's bill, known as the Philippine National Police Compensation Act of 2016, was filed at the beginning of the 17th Congress, along with nine other "reform measures" aimed at creating real change.

Cayetano said his bill aims to increase the minimum base pay and allowances of PNP personnel, allowing the lowest ranking police officer to receive a gross minimum pay of P50,530 per month, inclusive of benefits and allowances.

Cayetano explained that police personnel in the country do not receive adequate compensation from the government despite the risk to their lives brought by their profession. The senator also said the police force's low wages makes them vulnerable to the temptation of corruption. 

Compared to other neighboring countries, Filipino law enforcers are severely underpaid, Cayetano noted. An entry level Filipino Police Officer (PO1) only receives a basic monthly salary of P14,834, way below the monthly living wage of P27,510 for a family of five (5) set by the National Wages and Productivity Commission. 

Cayetano said a significant increase in the monthly salaries and other benefits of our policemen and women is a step towards uplifting the morale of the police force, revitalizing the police institution and attracting the best and the brightest young individuals to join the PNP.

"It is not enough that we punish and remove corrupt cops from the service. Without just compensation, crime and corruption will only seduce what is left of the government's honest, yet, impoverished police personnel," Cayetano said. 

Cayetano also filed other "campaign promise bills" during the first day of the 17th Congress, including an updated Freedom of Information (FOI) bill and a Mindanao Peace and Development Bill.#

Note: also attached is a copy of the bill filed by Sen. Alan in word format, to be numbered by the Senate

Pusher gives P30K monthly to cop

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I asked a chief of police of a burgeoning first class town how much the lowly policeman, a P01 or Police Officer-1, receives monthly.

“Mga P19,000,” he retorted.

I told him about powerful Mexican drug cartels Tijuana, Los Zetas (whose founding members were Mexican Special Forces trained at Fort Benning in USA) and Sinaloa bribing with huge amount of monies high government and police officials in Mexico.

“Is it possible that a big time drug pusher asked the P01 or those higher in ranks with him to turn the other cheek whenever they see drug pushers, under the watch of this big time seller, hawking  the illegal commodity in the street by giving them P50,000 each a month?,” I posed.

“Yes, but what I heard drug personalities give some of my police men P30,000 a month each. I was investigating this shenanigan because I was still new on my station,” he told me.

Here is an article from Wikipedia (Mexican Drug War) how policemen and soldiers joined the cartels because of the high pay and perks drug lords there in Mexico give them:

“Firstly, there have been large waves of elite armed forces and government security experts who have left the side of the government and joined the side of the cartels, often with large bribes and an opportunity for types of wealth they may not receive in government positions. The paramilitary group, the Zetas, used military personnel to create one of the largest paramilitary groups in Mexico. Some of the elite armed forces members who join paramilitaries are trained in the School of the Americas. These paramilitaries have begun out of a deregulation of the Mexican army who has been slowly replaced by private security firms. Paramilitaries, including the Zetas, have now entered uncharted territories. They protect not only drug cartels but also many other financially profitable industries such as oil, gas, kidnapping, and counterfeiting electronics. There has been a complete and total loss of control by the government and the only response has been to increase army presence, notably an army whose officials are often paid off or are already on the drug cartels payroll. The United States has stepped in to offer support in the “war on drugs” by the way of funding, American training and military support, and transforming the Mexican judicial system to parallel the American system”.

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too attotomortz@yahoo.com)