Legal Mandates of the NAPOLCOM

The National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) derives its mandate from the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It is thus believed that the Philippine Constitution is the fundamental, paramount, and supreme law of the land. It is a fundamental principle of constitutional construction to give effect to the intent of the framers of the organic law and of the people adopting it. The intention to which force is to be given is that which is embodied and expressed in the constitutional provisions themselves.

Under Section 6, Article XVI, of the present Constitution, it provides that, “the State shall establish and maintain one police force, which shall be national in scope and civilian in character, to be administered and controlled by a national police commission. The authority of local executives over the police units in their jurisdiction shall be provided by law.”

This, however, implies that the Commission shall continue to exercise administration and control over the Philippine National Police (PNP) as long as there is no constitutional amendment in this regard.

In fact, a Peace and Order Council has been enacted in 1987 and 1988 to secure and safeguard the citizens through the Executive Order No 320 Amending E.O. No. 309, entitled “Reorganizing the Peace and Order Council”

As part of its milestone, in 1966 the Philippine Congress enacted R.A. No. 4864 or otherwise known as the Police Act of 1966, to provide the foundation for the much needed police reforms in the country. It created the Police Commission (POLCOM) with the aim, “to achieve and attain a higher degree of efficiency in the organization, administration and operation of local police agencies; and to replace the local police service on a professional level.”

Since that year, the Commission had undergone changes in its organizational structure. However, it was in 1972 that the POLCOM was reorganized into it was known now as the NAPOLCOM. Originally under the Office of the President, it was later on transferred to the Ministry of National Defense in 1975 by virtue of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 765, known as the Police Integration Law.

With the passage of the R.A. No. 6975 on December 13, 1990, the PNP was established under a reorganized Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Hence, a new National Police Commission was created within the DILG, “for the purpose of effectively discharging the functions prescribed in the Constitution and provided in the Act.”

But under the Republic Act No. 8551 or otherwise known as, An Act Providing For The Reform and Reorganization of the Philippine National Police and For Other Purposes, Amending Certain Provisions of Republic Act Numbered Sixty-Nine Hundred and Seventy-Five Entitled, “An Act Establishing The Philippine National Police Under A Re-Organized Department of the Interior and Local Government, And For Other Purposes.” It expressly declares as policy and principles, that it is the role of the State to establish a highly efficient and competent police force which is national in scope and civilian in character administered and controlled by a national police commission. Furthermore, this Act has strengthened and expanded the Commission’s authority over the PNP to include administration of police entrance examination, conduct of pre-charge investigation against police anomalies and irregularities and summary dismissal of erring police members.

Today, in terms of broad-based clientele organization, the PNP composition is of 112,242 uniformed personnel and 4,983 non-uniformed personnel, stationed nationwide.

Furthermore, the NAPOLCOM is conceived to be as a collegial body, in which under R.A. 8551, the Commission is an autonomous agency, but attached to the DILG for “policy and program coordination.” The Secretary of the DILG is the ex-officio Chairperson of the Commission.

In R.A. No. 8551, it enumerates the different disciplinary mechanisms where any complaint against any member of the PNP may be filed, to wit: (1) Chiefs of Police, (2) Chief of the PNP, (3) Mayors of cities and municipalities, (4) People’s Law Enforcement Boards (PLEBs), (5) Internal Affairs Service (IAS), and the (6) National Police Commission. In addition, Sections 13 and 73, of R.A. No. 8551, gives the Commission operational supervision over the PNP aside from its mandate for administrative control.