GAMBOA’S DILEMMA

WITH about two months to go at the helm of the Philippine National Police—unless Pres. Duterte decides to extend his term— PNP director general, Archie Gamboa, has to scramble to salvage his legacy, with the national police organization almost daily being battered by embarrassing news.

A member of the Philippine Military Academy’s “Sinagtala” Class of 1986, Gamboa was thrust into the top position of the PNP in October 2019, when his “mistah,” P/General Oscar Albayalde, was forced to resign amidst an illegal drug scandal.

On his assumption, Gamboa declared that “winning back” the public’s “confidence” would be his top priority.

A lawyer and a former member of the Philippine Army’s “Scout Ranger” (before he transferred to the PNP in 1997) Gamboa is a decorated combat officer who rose from the ranks; as a police official, he has earned the reputation as a stickler for the rules and a disciplinarian.

But as he nears his mandatory retirement age of 56 this coming September 2, 2020, Gamboa’s leadership and the credibility of the entire PNP are both at risk as social media proves to be unforgiving in exposing police abuses, of which, the most recent are:

The June 29, 2020 “salvaging” by the members of the Jolo, Sulu Police Office of four intelligence officers of the Philippine Army.

Although the incident is now under investigation, it has created deep rancor between the police and the military when the PNP initially tried to downplay it and mislead the public by first claiming it was a “misencounter’” and the victims described as “four unidentified armed men;”

The rape and eventual killing of their 15-year old victim, Fabela Pineda, by two policemen in Ilocos Sur last July 4, 2020.

While Gamboa was swift to order the identification and removal from the police force of the two suspect-policemen, even describing them as “animals,” the incident brought back horror memories of policemen, even the fresh entrants, ready to execute complainants about their transgressions;

The release of the suspect, for insufficiency of evidence, last July 9, 2020, in the sensational June 28, 2020 murder of Jang Lucero in Calamba City. Lucero was stabbed 52 times when her body was discovered.

Two days before the suspect’s release, on July 7, 2020, Calabarzon regional police director, Vicente Danao, issued a press statement where he gave fulsome praise to the Calamba Police Office for the apprehension of suspect Annshiela Belarmino, a resident of Rizal province.

Belarmino’s release, observers said, once again highlighted the police’s incompetence in investigating crimes and also their penchant to arrest anyone as a suspect in order to declare any crime as “solved.”

The broad daylight murder of the Chief Inquest Prosecutor of Manila, Atty. Jovencio Aleman Senados, along Quirino Avenue last July 7, 2020, made more embarrassing by the successful escape of the armed suspects.

As of this writing, Senados’ case remains unsolved, similar to the past unsolved killings that happened in Manila’s streets and which contributed to the country’s reputation as a “dangerous country.”

Unless Gamboa, in his remaining days as Chief PNP, succeeds in living up to his promise to “win back public confidence” in the PNP, he is bound to suffer the fate of his predecessor—leaving the post of Chief PNP only with the title but not with the glory.