by. Lakan Atty Joaquin Alva
A Changing Leadership in the PNP
This reflection was inspired by our Viber group discussion on corruption and the changing PNP leadership from PMA Cavaliers to PNPA Lakans. Habang binabasa ko ang discussion, napaisip lang ako: kung nagbabago na ang namumuno, may magbabago rin kaya sa sistema?
Imagine entering Camp Rafael T Crame and looking at the photographs of the men who led the PNP through the years.
Different faces. Different generations. Different stories.
For many years, one thing would have been immediately noticeable.
Many of the senior leaders came from the PMA.
The Cavaliers.
Today, look again.
Something has changed.
More and more graduates of the PNPA, the tatak Lakans, are occupying the highest positions of the PNP.
Now ask a simple question.
Does it really matter?
Cavalier or Lakan man, pareho lang naman silang pulis eventually. They wear the same uniform, enforce the same laws, command the same organization, and swear allegiance to the same Constitution.
So why should we even talk about it?
Perhaps because this is not merely about where somebody graduated.
It is about the gradual evolution of the institution itself.
For a long time, the Philippine police carried a very strong military influence. Historically, understandable naman iyon. The old Philippine Constabulary was military in character, and many officers who later became senior police commanders came from the PMA.
Naturally, they brought with them a particular leadership culture.
Discipline.
Hierarchy.
Command.
Obedience.
Mission accomplishment.
There is nothing inherently wrong with those values. In fact, any police organization without discipline and a functioning chain of command will probably collapse.
And we should give credit where credit is due.
Many Cavaliers served this country honorably. Many became excellent commanders. Some sacrificed their lives. They helped build institutions that the present generation inherited.
Hindi natin puwedeng burahin iyon simply because another generation is now taking over.
But there is an important difference between the military and the police.
The military is primarily organized to defend the State against threats. The police deal every day with the ordinary citizen.
The victim is a citizen.
The complainant is a citizen.
The witness is a citizen.
Even the person being arrested remains a citizen with constitutional rights.
That changes the character of the profession.
The military is understandably “mission-oriented”.
The police must certainly accomplish its mission too, but policing must ultimately be “service-oriented”.
Perhaps that distinction explains why the rise of PNPA graduates deserves some reflection.
The PNPA was created specifically to develop officers for public safety and law enforcement. Its graduates entered police stations, investigative units, intelligence offices, provincial commands, regional offices, and national headquarters.
For many years, however, the top remained largely dominated by another tradition.
The Lakans were there.
Tahimik lang.
Working.
Waiting.
Learning the organization from below.
Some probably felt frustrated. Some may have believed that regardless of competence, there was a ceiling they would have difficulty breaking because the senior leadership network had already been established by an older generation.
But time changes institutions.
The Cavaliers retired, ( their last graduates in the PNP belong to Class 1992)
The Lakans gained seniority.
And slowly, almost naturally, PNPA graduates began occupying positions that earlier classes could only dream of reaching.
Now we arrive at an uncomfortable question.
If crime decreases during a period when PNPA graduates increasingly occupy senior leadership positions, does that mean Lakans are better police leaders?
As a Lakan, madaling sabihin na:
Of course.
Sarap pakinggan.
But that would not be intellectually fair.
Crime goes up and down because of many factors. Economy, demographics, police deployment, technology, prosecution, community participation, criminal opportunities, reporting practices and many other variables affect crime statistics.
So we cannot simply say:
“Bumaba ang crime because Lakans are now leading the PNP.”
That would be confusing correlation with causation.
But there is another side to the question.
If an academy was specifically designed to educate officers for policing and public safety, isn’t it reasonable to ask whether its graduates may eventually bring a different orientation when they become the ones running the police organization?
That, I think, is the more interesting question.
Not:
Who is better, Cavalier or Lakan?
But:
What happens to the PNP when professional police graduates increasingly lead a professional police institution?
History is now giving us the opportunity to find out.
But before Lakans celebrate too much, there is another part of history worth remembering.
The military and police establishments have produced heroes.
But they have also produced controversial figures.
Our history contains coup attempts, military adventurism, allegations and proven instances of corruption, abuse of authority, political intervention and elitism involving some officers.
Again, let us be fair.
Those things cannot be blamed on every Cavalier.
That would be the same mistake as judging an entire PNPA class because one Lakan became corrupt.
Academies do not steal money.
People do.
Academies do not abuse authority.
People do.
And corruption certainly does not ask for your class number before entering your office.
Hindi namimili ang corruption kung Cavalier ka o Lakan.
This is precisely why I think the rise of the Lakan carries a warning.
For years, it was easy for PNPA graduates to look upward and criticize.
Why are assignments like this?
Why is promotion like this?
Why is the organization being managed this way?
Why do certain groups seem to dominate?
Those questions may have been legitimate.
But now the situation is changing.
The Lakan is increasingly sitting in the same chair he once looked at from below.
And something strange happens when people finally acquire power.
The things that looked wrong when somebody else was doing them can suddenly become very convenient when we are the ones benefiting.
That is the real test.
It is easy to condemn privilege when you are excluded from it.
The question is what you do when the privilege becomes yours.
If PNPA graduates eventually dominate the PNP and simply create another exclusive circle, what exactly changed?
Kung dati Cavalier ang may monopoly, tapos ngayon Lakan naman ang gagawa ng sariling monopoly, then perhaps we merely changed the people benefiting from the system.
Palit pangalan.
Palit class ring.
Same problem.
And that would be unfortunate.
Because I do not think the historical opportunity of the Lakan should be about replacing one elite with another.
It should be about changing the character of leadership.
This brings me to a phrase that I think Lakans should be careful about:
“Panahon na natin.”
There is something uncomfortable about those words.
Parang entitlement.
As if leadership positions are prizes that one academy has waited long enough to receive.
Perhaps there is a better way of saying it.
“Pananagutan na natin.”
Now the responsibility is ours.
That changes everything.
Because once PNPA graduates occupy the senior positions, we can no longer indefinitely blame the previous generation.
If corruption continues, eventually that becomes our corruption problem.
If favoritism continues, that becomes our favoritism problem.
If officers retire with wealth grossly inconsistent with lawful income, then we should ask the same difficult questions regardless of academy.
If hypocrisy continues, we cannot simply say we inherited it.
At some point, inheritance becomes ownership.
And this is where I hope the Lakan generation will be different.
Not because Lakans are genetically more honest.
Not because PNPA somehow produces morally superior human beings.
That would be nonsense.
But perhaps because this generation has the advantage of seeing both the achievements and mistakes of those who came before.
We already know what excessive elitism can do.
We already know what happens when organizations become too political.
We already know what happens when connections become more important than competence.
We already know the damage caused when public service becomes a means of personal enrichment.
Why repeat them?
If history already showed us the potholes, bakit doon pa rin tayo dadaan?
Perhaps the greatest tribute Lakans can give to the Cavaliers who served honorably is to inherit their best qualities.
Courage.
Discipline.
Decisiveness.
Sacrifice.
Leadership.
But leave behind the mistakes.
And perhaps the greatest service PNPA graduates can give their own academy is not simply to occupy more positions.
It is to make the institution better once they occupy them.
Because ordinary Filipinos really do not care about our academy rivalries.
A mother reporting a missing child will not ask whether the chief of police is PMA or PNPA.
A robbery victim does not care about the commander’s class ring.
A businessman being extorted does not care whether the officer helping him is called Cavalier or Lakan.
They want competent police.
Honest police.
Professional police.
Police who will actually help them.
That is all.
So perhaps we should stop measuring the rise of the Lakan by counting how many senior positions Lakans occupy.
Count something else.
Did corruption decline?
Did public trust improve?
Did police service become better?
Did merit become more important in promotion and assignment?
Did ordinary policemen feel that the organization became fairer?
Did citizens feel safer?
Those are harder measurements.
But those are the ones that matter.
And this brings me back to those photographs on the wall.
Someday another generation will walk past them.
They will see the Cavaliers.
They will see the Lakans.
They will know who became Chief PNP, who became regional director, who received four stars and who occupied the most powerful positions.
But perhaps history will ask a much simpler question.
What did you do when your time finally came?
The Cavaliers wrote a very large part of the history of Philippine policing.
We should respect that.
Now the Lakans are increasingly being given the opportunity to write the next chapter.
Hopefully, we write it well.
Because the worst thing that could happen is for the Lakan to spend decades criticizing inefficiency, corruption, hypocrisy and elitism, and then reproduce exactly the same things once he acquires power.
Then history will have changed names without changing anything.
From Cavalier to Lakan.
I hope it becomes more than a changing of the guard.
I hope it becomes a changing of leadership culture.
From authority toward accountability.
From entitlement toward responsibility.
From command alone toward service.
The chair does not belong to the Cavalier.
Neither does it belong to the Lakan.
The chair belongs temporarily to whoever the Filipino people have entrusted to lead their police.
And perhaps that is the most important thing the Lakan should remember.
Hindi tayo naghintay ng matagal para tayo naman ang maging makapangyarihan.
We waited for the opportunity to serve.
The Lakan should never become the master of the Philippine National Police.
The Lakan must become its Tagapaglingkod ng Bayan or “Tagapagpatupad” ng batas sa “Makatao” na pamamaraan.
Source: Atty Alva