By Aaron Recuenco The Philippine National Police (PNP) wants to have the toughest but smartest policemen in the force assigned to Mindanao as a way of correcting the misconception that Mindanao is a dumping ground for sloppy and scalawag cops. Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar
(PNP / MANILA BULLETIN) Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, PNP deputy chief for operations, said Tuesday the habit of sending erring cops to Mindanao is now being addressed by the PNP leadership through the aggressive internal cleansing which newly-installed national police chief Gen. Archie Gamboa vowed to implement. “We are now dignifying Mindanao assignments, particularly here in Western Mindanao, by correcting the misconceptions that this is the dumping site of scalawag policemen Metro Manila,” Eleazar said in his speech during his visit to the headquarters of the Zamboanga Peninsula regional police and the opening ceremony of the Seminar on Budget Proposal Preparation. “With the aggressive internal cleansing initiated by our Chief PNP Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa, for instance, the PNP leadership is making sure that if you commit offenses, you have nowhere else to go, but be meted with appropriate punishments as quickly as possible,” he added. Eleazar also explained that the deployment of tough but bright policemen especially to the central and western parts of Mindanao is also crucial for the continuity of the implementation of the peace agreement that President Duterte helped to realize with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). “In the past three years, the security landscape here has significantly improved despite some challenges. And it will continue to drastically change now that President Duterte has set the good mood for a peaceful and economically-developed Mindanao, with the peace agreement with the MILF and the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region,” Eleazar said. “So the challenge now is to fill Mindanao with both the toughest and the brightest policemen in order to sustain what the President has started to achieve -- a long overdue Filipino dream of a peaceful and progressive Mindanao.” Over the years, Mindanao assignments, especially to the western part that includes Basilan and Sulu, served as punishments for both sloppy and scalawag policemen. This prompted residents and officials of Mindanao to protest the practice of turning their land into a dumpsite for errant cops. Eleazar explained that one of the major reasons why it became a practice in the past is to dare scalawag policemen that if they are indeed tough cops, they must show it in Mindanao where people are known and proven to be tough. He said over the years, the central and western parts of Mindanao were considered the scariest assignments for policemen, soldiers, and other law enforcement operatives due to the presence of armed men. But Eleazar was quick to emphasize how Mindanao has become an integral part of the good peace and order strategies of the police and military. “It is here in Mindanao where some of our policemen were able to show the real meaning of courage, it is here in Mindanao where excellence in law enforcement was tried and tested, and it is here in Mindanao where police heroes were made.” He then cited the case of the 44 slain Special Action Force commandos who died on Jan. 25, 2015 taking out Malaysian international terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, who helped train Filipino extremists in urban warfare and bomb-making.