MEDIA has been seeking me out to comment on Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos' call for the voluntary resignation of all senior colonels and generals of the Philippine National Police (PNP) due to the involvement of some in the illicit drug trade. Honestly, his intent to address criminality in the PNP should not be the basis for comment. The meat and bones or the nuts and bolts of his plan are what media should focus on. We all need to know the scope of work, strategy, organization, resources, desired end-state and process to be undertaken. The best I can do for now is to share my past experience for reference purposes.
During my watch at the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) three decades ago, then President Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) sought to clean up the various pillars of the criminal justice system (CJS) within government's control — law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, penology — starting with the PNP, shortly after he assumed office as president. The rationale for the CJS' envisioned reform and transformation was that there's no point in waging wars on criminality, terrorism and ecological rapists if one could escape from any portion of the infected system. A sincere whole-of-government effort was needed to set the tone.
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