PNP warns personnel vs. engaging in politics after DILG dismisses 6 cops

Philippine National Police (PNP) Police General Guillermo Eleazar on Monday discouraged all police personnel from engaging in partisan politics with the election season fast approaching.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government has dismissed Negros Oriental cops guilty of subjecting ex-Moises Padilla Vice Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo to an illegal search and seizure in 2017.

“Policemen have no business in politics unless they resign and run for public office or openly support a candidate,” Eleazar said in a statement.

“We have already mechanisms to isolate the PNP from politics and we will make sure that all of these are in place and are properly observed,” he added.

The dismissed cops were identified as former Moises Padilla town police chief Police Captain Allan Reloj, Police Master Sergeant Ricardo Campos Dingcong Jr., Police Corporal Nobel Perante, Police Corporal  Corejado Pesales Jr., Police Patrolman Michael Mondido, and Police Patrolman Darryl Ducay Dormido.         

The National Police Commission found that the six PNP personnel subjected Yulo to political harassment as she was planning to run for mayor in 2019 against then-incumbent Mayor Magdaleno Peña.

“The incident that happened in Negros Occidental wherein six PNP personnel were dismissed from the service for dipping their fingers into local politics should serve as a warning to all other personnel about the risk they are staking for involving themselves in politics,”  Elazar said. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News