Anti-crime group bats for a more modernized PNP

After being kidnapped twice, architect Ka Kuen Chua now leads a group that is helping the police force secure the proper tools and values necessary for crime prevention.

Chua, chairman of the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order, said it is them, crime victims, who look forward the most for the modernization and professionalization of the Philippine National Police.

“If there is anyone in this meeting who looks to benefit the most from a highly modernized and fully professionalized national police, it is us, the members of the MRPO, who ourselves are victims of kidnapping and other related crimes,” he said during Tuesday's hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on PNP modernization.

Chua was first kidnapped in September 2008. His family paid the ransom but the kidnappers did not release him. After 17 days, the MRPO and the Philippine Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER) rescued him and arrested the kidnappers.

However, five days after his case was promulgated in May 2012, he was again kidnapped by a different group.

Senator Grace Poe, who presided over the hearing, asked Chua how much they paid for ransom, but Chua refused to divulge it. “Maybe not in this hearing,” he said.

Despite this, Chua still considers himself lucky “as I did not end up like other members whose family has since mourned their deaths.”

"Rotten eggs in the organization"

“Our horrible experiences would have been prevented or, at the very least, the likelihood of them happening would have been diminished had there been an efficient peace and order control system in place,” he said.

He added that the recent controversies involving police officers who themselves are engaged in criminal activities “only make matters worse for us, as our sense of security continue to dwindle with one scandal to another.”

“Though it is not for us to conclude that the national police organization is reeking of rats, suffice it to state the rotten eggs in the organization have worked to diminish our trust to our then regarded friendly neigborhood police and this begs the question, Where are we to go if the persons who are supposed to protect are the same individual who undermine the social order?” said Chua.

He said this is the reason why there is a need to further professionalize the PNP.

“We need our police to be equipped not only with the proper tools and implements that will ensure the efficiency in responding to crimes. We likewise need our police to be armed with proper values that will ensure that they exist only to serve and to protect,” he said.

Chua added that the MRPO remains a big partner for crime prevention and control. “We remain committed to continue working with all stakeholders in enforcing peace and order in our society,” he said.

Higher crime incidents

Poe noted that the reported crime incidents this year is higher than last year. She said the crime volume for the whole 2013 was 631,406 while as of June this year, the crime volume is already 603, 485.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima said the higher number of reported crimes could be because of the efficient reporting system. He also said the PNP will intensify its police visibility program to prevent crimes from happening.

“Lalo nating paiigtingin lalo na sa counter-intelligence para doon sa mga pulis na na-involve po sa krimen. On my part, tumatalima po ako sa inyong suhestyon na maging visible po ako sa mga kababayan,” he said.

Poe said the efficient reporting system should not be an excuse for the higher reporting of crime incidents.

“Ang masakit nun, mas efficient ‘yung reporting system natin pero mas nararamdaman ng mga tao ngayon ang peligro. We should work proactively, so that now that the reporting system is more efficient we will be able to address it,” she said. —KBK, GMA News