Malacañang palace defended the President's decision to veto the Philippine National Police (PNP) Organizational Reform Bill, stating the proposed law has provisions which are unclear and others that run counter to the system optimization it intends to carry out.
This decision had come about by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s careful consideration, said Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin. It was to ensure any adjustments made to the national police were fair, comprehensible, and beneficial to all.
The provision regarding retroactive benefits for officers may result in confusion, Bersamin said, and the President believes wages within the PNP must stay fair.
Among the provisions that do not align with Marcos' rightsizing policy is the one that seeks to institutionalize directorial staffs, area police commands (APC), special offices, as well as support units without considering the "functional relationships of the different offices" and clearly defining reporting lines.
The President also believed the activated APCs were unnecessary. It is meant to oversee "inter-regional and trans-regional police and disaster response operations," which is presently a function of various police offices.
"Let us not wait for the time when there will be misencounters among our police forces due to their overlapping functions," he said.
Furthermore, Bersamin pointed out that the Internal Affairs Service or IAS must remain an independent and impartial party to investigations on police misconduct, which may be compromised in the proposed reform.
The secretary assured that the administration will continue to collaborate with Congress to devise a refined reform bill that will strengthen the police force without giving rise to negative effects.
