Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, is pushing for the dismissal from service of two Special Action Force (SAF) commandos involved in the moonlighting racket as security escorts of a Chinese national.

Marbil, in a radio interview on Tuesday, said he already ordered the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) to investigate the matter.

“I am not pleased. These people should learn their lesson. They should not stay in the service. That is not proper, especially in SAF. It creates chaos among units,” he stressed.

Marbil said there’s an ongoing probe against two SAF commandos, namely, Cpl. George Mabuti and Pat. Roger Valdez, who were arrested by the Ayala-Alabang Police Sub-Station 5 after they engaged in a fistfight, which became the subject of a complaint by residents inside a posh village in Muntinlupa City on 18 May.

Aside from the two SAF officers, he said seven other officers are also under investigation for possible connivance of the moonlighting scheme.

Initial investigation showed that Mabuti and Valdez were not rendering official duty to the 52nd Special Action Company Zamboanga and the 55th Special Action Company Zamboanga, their respective assigned units.

Marbil emphasized that providing security to outsiders of the police force is not part of the duties of the PNP’s elite unit.

“This act demoralizes the whole unit and destroys the dignity of our uniform,” he stressed.

According to the PNP chief, only the Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG) is allowed to provide protective security personnel to those who have valid security threats to their lives.

He noted that persons requesting protective security personnel would also undergo a threat assessment.

Amid the incident, Marbil ordered the revision of the policy on the deployment of police officers as security escorts.

“If it's less than six months, the PSPG director would be the one to approve and the rest is the chief PNP, but right now we revised our policy. Only the PSPG regional director can give security to high threats for only one month. The rest is under DCO (Deputy Chief for Operations) to account for all our personnel,” he said.