The lawmakers want to strengthen the IAS by making it a “truly independent institution” and detaching it from the PNP.

As the joint Senate panel recommends granting independence to the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Internal Affairs Services (IAS), Senate President Vicente Sotto III yesterday pushed to put the office in charge of the internal cleansing of the police forces directly under the Office of the President.

In the committee report of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee issued jointly with the Justice and Human Rights panel on the “ninja cops” issue, the lawmakers want to strengthen the IAS by making it a “truly independent institution” and detaching it from the PNP.

Sotto, one of the senators who led the investigation on the pilfering of seized drugs by several PNP officers, however, said the IAS could perform better under the supervision of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“It can be directly under the Office of the President, if you ask me,” Sotto said.

The President can appoint an official that will head the IAS if Sotto’s suggestion will be heard.

Currently, the IAS is under PNP jurisdiction and is headed by IAS inspector-general Alfegar Triambulo.

The powers of IAS were enumerated under Section 39 of the Republic Act 8551, which gives it authority to conduct inspection and audit PNP personnel and units.

It is also in charge of investigating complaints and gathering evidence for an open investigation, conduct summary hearings on PNP members with administrative charges, and submit a periodic report to the PNP chief on the evaluation of the character and behavior of personnel and units, among others.

Last week, it was reported that Triambulo was “lobbying” for a bill to separate the IAS from the PNP at the House of Representatives.

Partylist lawmaker PBA Rep. Jericho Nograles has filed House Bill 3065 which seeks to separate the unit from the PNP to prevent influence or pressure from the PNP chief and other high-ranking police officials.

“As the office that oversees the conduct of the uniformed personnel, the IAS should be free from influence, pressure, and intervention from the chief PNP and other high-ranking PNP officers in adjudicating administrative cases,” Nograles said in his explanatory note.

“Placing IAS under the direct supervision of the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government will make the PNP-IAS an independent, impartial, effective and efficient institution guardian of integrity,” he added.

Sotto affirmed that the Senate will also prioritize the counterpart to Nograles’ bill.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año claimed being open to the idea but said it should be given careful study as it is an important arm of the PNP.

“We have to study that further. IAS is an important tool of the chief PNP to eradicate scalawags and rotten eggs if supported and supervised properly,” Año told Daily Tribune.

This recommendation came out after the Senate reinvestigated the 13 former Pampanga cops involved in a highly irregular drug buy-bust operation in Mexico, Pampanga in 2013.

The policemen seized around 200 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, but they underdeclared the seized contraband, reporting only 36 kilograms. They also detained a fall guy to free a foreign drug trafficker, Johnson Lee, in exchange of a P50 million bribe.

Police Major Rodney Baloyo led that operation with Police Captain Joven B. de Guzman Jr, Master Sergeants Jules Lacap Maniago, Donald Castro Roque, Ronald Bayas Santos, Rommel Munoz Vital, Alcindor Mangiduyos Tinio, Dante Mercado Dizon, Eligio Dayos Valeroso, Police Staff Sergeants Dindo Singian Dizon, Gilbert Angeles de Vera, Romeo Encarnacion Guerrero and Police Corporal Anthony Loleng Lacsamana.

At the time of the said operation, resigned PNP chief Oscar Albayalde was serving as the Pampanga police chief.

The cops were found guilty of grave misconduct in 2014 for failure to account all confiscated evidence in a drug operation and ordered dismissed from service.

Meanwhile, PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa has ordered a massive revamp, affecting 21 key positions and 19 star-rank officials.

Gamboa designated MGen. Mariel Magaway as new director of the PNP-Directorate for Intelligence; MGen. Amador Corpus, director of Human Resource and Doctrine Development; BGen. Joel Napoleon Coronel as acting director of the CIDG; and BGen. Leonardo Cesneros, OIC of Police Regional Office-3 (PRO-3).

Police BGen. Nicerio Obaob was named as acting PRO-4B director, while erstwhile Manila Police District (MPD) director BGen. Vicente Danao was promoted as new acting director of PRO-4A vice BGen. Edward Carranza, who was designated as acting director of the PNP-Logistics Support Service; BGen. Bernabe Balba succeeded Danao as MPD chief.