PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief, General Debold M. Sinas has ordered the PNP Directorate for Intelligence to revisit its policy on Complete Background Investigation (CBI) amid an incident in which a police trainee already undergoing training since September last year turned out to be a man wanted for a homicide case.
As part of its rigid recruitment process, the PNP had also sought the help of the citizenry in looking into the background of PNP applicants by posting their names, photographs and addresses in Facebook and other social media in an effort to elicit information on the would-be policemen which have not been uncovered during the conduct of the CBI.
As a rule, uniformed and undercover police officers go to the place of residence of the PNP applicant and ask his/her neighbors and local barangay officials for pieces of information that would be later used whether to accept or reject an individual’s application.
The CBI covers questions on possible criminal record, current and previous employment history and the image of the applicant in his/her neighborhood. It also entails checking the applicant’s record at the PNP, the courts and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
On Wednesday last week, the PNP chief ordered the immediate termination from the police service of a police trainee who was arrested inside the Manila City Hall after he was found to be the subject of a warrant of arrest for homicide.
The top cop also ordered the PNP-DI headed by Major Gen. Dennis P. Agustin and the PNP Recruitment Service headed by Colonel Maria Leonora C. Camarao to investigate how Patrolman Christopher Mercado Alfaro, a 24-year old resident of 881 Geronimo Street, Sampaloc, Manila was able to enter the PNP Maritime Group despite a thorough background investigation being conducted on its applicants.
It turned out that around 12 noon last Wednesday, a team of Manila Police District (MPD) warrant officers led by Lieutenant Laureano Larry Daligdig arrested Alfaro inside the Manila City Hall on the strength of a warrant of arrest for homicide issued last January 29 by Judge Jacqueline Martin-Balictar of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 29.
MPD director, Brigadier Gen. Leo M. Francisco said his men discovered that Alfaro is a patrolman undergoing training at the Regional Training Center 2 in Cagayan Valley.
Following the incident, Sinas ordered an investigation into how concerned Regional and Provincial intelligence officers failed to find out that the suspect is facing a homicide case when they gave him a clearance to apply at the police force.
The PNP chief said he wants to find out who among his intelligence officials failed to really conduct an honest-to-goodness background investigation on the suspect leading to his entry into the police force.
A record check showed that police trainee Alfaro was appointed as a temporary patrolman on September 15, 2020 after passing a medical and mental screening test and given a complete background investigation clearance by the Police Regional Office 3 Regional Intelligence Division on August 10 of the same year.
It turned out that the PNP trainee has a pending criminal case before his appointment leading to his arrest on Wednesday.
As a result, his appointment was cancelled by PNP Maritime Group director, Brig. Gen. John Mitchell V. Jamili considering the same is void ab initio pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act 6975 as amended by RA 8551 which created the PNP.
The cancellation order on Alfaro’s appointment has been forwarded by the PRS to the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management and the Civil Service Commission for the official cancellation of the attested appointment of the accused by the CSC.
