Napolcom exec blames crime groups for smear campaign

National Police Commission (Napolcom) vice chairperson and chief executive officer (VCEO) Alberto Bernardo stated that he has become a target of a smear campaign due to his strict adherence to the law and commitment to implementing proper promotional processes for uniformed personnel.

Bernardo disclosed to DAILY TRIBUNE that he has been receiving death threats from organized crime groups behind the smear campaign.

He addressed the allegations against him, including questions about his employment status following his retirement in 2023, emphasizing that everything was above board.

Bernardo stated that organized crime groups appear to have infiltrated the Commission, focusing on questioning his employment status and alleging that he is receiving double compensation from both his salary as Napolcom VCEO and his retirement benefits.

"Aside from getting death threats (from crime groups) they are harping on my employment status," Bernardo said.

In the documents he provided, one of which is his letter to former Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr., who is also the Napolcom chairman, Bernardo said he did not "end his term of office from the Napolcom but merely opted not to continue his membership with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)."

Another document, a letter Bernardo wrote to GSIS president and general manager (PGM) Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso dated 20 August, showed he informed the GSIS that he has been in the government service for over three decades, starting in 1987, and held various key positions classified as career service positions, "the longest having been with the Office of the President from 1994 up until 8 March 2022 when he was appointed for a fixed term of six (6) years as Commissioner, VCEO of the Napolcom."

Bernardo explained that with his appointment in Napolcom, he had transitioned from occupying a career service position to a non-career position with a fixed term until 7 March 2028.

"Being appointed as such when he was sixty-two (62) years old, as a matter of course, he reached the mandatory retirement age midway through his 6-year fixed term of office," Bernardo's letter read.

"In October 2023, the undersigned, at the age of sixty-four (64) and while in continuous active government service, opted not to continue his membership with the GSIS and applied for the availment of the retirement benefits due him under Republic Act 8291 or the GSIS Act of 1997."

"The availment thereof was in the honest belief that even without a gap in the continuity of government service, being duly appointed for a full 6-year term of office, the undersigned may avail the same having met the requisite length of government service and years of age, and non-receipt of permanent total disability benefits," Bernardo farther explained.

Bernardo said this would explain that all issues about his employment status are already settled.

Meanwhile, Bernardo also revealed that issues about why he held temporarily the promotions of some uniformed personnel will surely be taken advantage of by his detractors.

But his move, he explained is for the new DILG Secretary Juanito Victor "Jonvic" Remulla to take a hand on that decision.