MANILA – Corruption in the Philippine National Police (PNP) is possibly abetted by the “kuya system,” where senior policemen supervise the field training of recruits, officials from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Tuesday.

At a Senate hearing on bills seeking PNP reforms, DILG Undersecretary for Police Matters Catalino Cuy explained that after taking a six-month Public Safety Basic Recruit Course, police recruits undergo a Field Training Program for another six months.

During field training, a senior officer, who acts as a “kuya” or older brother of sorts, coaches around seven or eight recruits in conducting investigations, patrol work, and traffic management.

Cuy, who formerly headed the Davao City police, said aspiring cops may be “exposed to the negative side of the police service” if they are trained by an unscrupulous supervisor.

"Iyung problem sa discipline ng PNP [The problem with the discipline of PNP] really starts with the recruitment... During the last half of the one-year training of the recruits, there is a tendency for them to be exposed to the negative side of the police service. It will really depend on the quality of the field officers that will be assigned to act as supervisor of the PO1 [Police Officer 1] recruits,” he said.

'CORRUPT SUBCULTURE'

PRC Board of Criminology chairman Ramil Gabao echoed Cuy’s opinion, saying that some senior cops may already be mired in a corrupt “police subculture.”

“If the supervisor, the buddy-buddy of this new recruit, is one that is already in possession of a subculture of the organization, that will be ultimately transferred to the new recruit,” he said.

Senator Leila de Lima also said that although the “kuya system” fosters camaraderie between senior and rookie cops, it also discourages PNP personnel from reporting their crooked colleagues.

“Among their ranks, kilala nila kung sino iyung mga notorious, sino iyung mga rotten. Pero precisely because of that buddy-buddy system, walang gaanong encouragement or incentive to report the illegal or criminal activities of their colleague,” De Lima said, eliciting agreement from Gabao.

(Among their ranks, they know who is notorious, who is rotten. But precisely because of that buddy-buddy system, there is not much encouragement or incentive to report the illegal or criminal activities of their colleague.)

Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chairman Panfilo Lacson then urged PNP regional directors to run thorough background checks before appointing supervisors of field training.

WHO SHOULD TRAIN COPS?

The PNP handles the Field Training Program of future policemen, but a separate and distinct bureau, the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC), is responsible for administering the Public Safety Basic Recruit Course through police schools such as as the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) and the Police National Training Institute (PNTI).

Senator Antonio Trillanes, in his Senate Bill 574, has proposed to transfer supervision of the training institutions from the PPSC to the PNP because the current set-up is supposedly ineffective and costly.

“The current structure allows lapses in coordination of training programs, and makes it difficult to develop a system for a well-developed plan and budget for training internal to the PNP. Further, there is mismatch between the PNP training expectations and requirements and the actual services provided by the PPSC,” Trillanes said in the explanatory note of his bill.

PPSC President Ricardo De Leon, however, said there is no need to transfer the training institutions to PNP jurisdiction. The PPSC and PNP, he said, can simply “strengthen their partnership” to better hone police recruits.

-- With a report from Adrian Ayalin, ABS-CBN News