NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF LAW
Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

Term Paper

Criminal Justice System of the Philippines: Law Enforcement Pillar

Submitted to:

Atty. Mark Dave Camarao

Professor, Criminal Justice System

Submitted by:

Mary Joy Rubecca B. Francisco

LLB-I

September 2018
The Philippine Criminal Justice System: Law Enforcement Pillar

The Criminal Justice of the Philippines is composed of five (5) pillars, which is first
the Community, second is the Legal Enforcement or the Police, third is the Prosecution,
and fourth is the Courts and lastly the Correctional Institution.

If one of the pillars is dysfunctional, we cannot expect any good result of justice
from them. Each of the pillars have important roles to play in the Criminal Justice of the
Philippines especially in the implementation of laws, investigation and dispensation of
justice of the alleged offenders or violators.

The first pillar is the Community. It refers directly to the people, institutions,
government, non-government agencies and people’s organization that provides
assistance and care to the offended party or the victim, before, during and after the
beginning of a victim’s case. The community has a major role to assume in all the phases
of judicial involvement of the offender as well as the prevention and protection from abuse,
cruelty, discrimination, exploitation and any crime that can occur. Assistance of offenders
who enters the Correctional Institution and also acceptance of the community to the
offenders when he goes out of the said Correctional Institution.

The second pillar is the Law Enforcement they are the Philippine National Police,
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group,
Philippine National Police Maritime Group, National Bureau of Investigation, etc. This
comprises the government agencies that are responsible with the implementation and
enforcement of the penal laws. It is principally responsible for the investigation and
determination whether the offender has committed any crime, the apprehension of
alleged offenders for further investigation.

The third pillar is Prosecution, this pillar is responsible to investigate and prosecute
penal violations. They evaluate evidences in the preliminary investigation and they are
the one who decides whether the case filed will be dismissed or files the case in courts
as needed.

The fourth pillar is the Courts of the Philippines which are the Municipal Trial Courts
and Regional Trial Courts they are the ones who handle cases and issues judgement
after the trial.

The last pillar is the Correctional Institution like the Bureau of Jail Management
and Penology, New Bilibid Prison and Correctional Institution of Women. They are the
institutions in charge to administer both correctional and rehabilitation programs for the
offenders. The programs help the offenders or the convicts abilities and potential for their
comeback into the community and to live a normal life again.

The rehabilitation process helps the offenders or the convicts to teach them
livelihood activities, religious activities, also they are offering free education inside the
institution for them to heal and recover in order for them to be able to cope up and rebuild
their lives.

The government agencies, non-government agencies and other institutions are

supporting the correctional institution.

In the said pillars we are assigned to visit, observed and interview the members of
the fourth pillar which is the Law Enforcement. The role of PNP or Philippine National
Police shall enforce the law, prevent and control crimes, maintain peace and order, and
ensure public safety and internal security with the active support of the community.

The functions of the PNP are the following:

1. Law Enforcement
2. Maintain Peace and Order
3. Prevents and investigates crimes and bring offenders to justice
4. Exercise the vested powers from the Philippine Constitution and pertinent laws
5. Detain and arrested person for a period not beyond what is prescribed by law
6. Implements pertinent laws and regulations on firearms and explosives control
7. Supervise and control the training and operations of security agencies

We visited the Bacarra Police Station last September 08, 2018 to observe and
gather information in the Police Station. The Municipality of Bacarra with a total population
of 35,432 and 43 Branggays led by Mayor Nicomedes Dela Cruz.

Crime Prevention

According to Police Inspector Joel Ramos Morales, they did an enhancement of

patrolling or Preventive Patrolling. This is where the Police coordinated with the Local
Baranggay Officials to implement the patrolling of Tanods in their designated barangays.
In which they will be coordinating with the assigned police officers who are patrolling the
area especially in the dangerous areas of Bacarra.

Aside from that Mayor Nicomedes Dela Cruz created a public safety officers who
are primarily in charge with the public safety on the road.
 The said police station also have social media accounts and active hotlines in case
there are reports of crimes or accidents. The police officers validates first the report before
taking action to avoid any prank calls.

Lastly the recently implemented Oplan Rody of the President was adopted to be
their municipal ordinance last week of July 2018. The Oplan Rody (Rid the Streets of
Drunkards and Youths), they are now detaining minors who are violating the curfew, along
with the adults caught drinking liquor in the streets or shirtless in public . So far, this

ordinance is already disseminated to all the barangays and warned them about it.
When the time hits 10 o’clock in the evening automatically the police in partnership
with the Barangay Officials and Tanods are working around the clock to ensure the
safety of everybody.

Crime Rate of Bacarra

Index crimes, as defined by the Philippine National Police (PNP), involve crimes

against persons such as murder, homicide, physical injury and rape, and crimes against

property such as robbery, theft, carnapping/carjacking and cattle rustling. As for Bacarra

the only crimes committed are Physical Injury, Robbery and Carnapping with 1 count each

of the said crimes.

Table 1. Crime Statistics as of 01 January 2018 to 10 September 2018 Index Crime

Nature of INDEX CRIMES Total

Crime Total Crimes Committed Per
Crime
AGAINST Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept
PERSON 1-10
Murder 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Homicide 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Physical 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Injury
Rape 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AGAINST
PROPERTY
Robbery 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Theft 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Carnapping 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Cattle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Rustling
Total by 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
Month
Grand Total Index Crimes 3

Table 2. Crime Statistics as of 01 January 2018 to 10 September 2018 Non- Index

Crime

Non-index crimes, are violations of special laws such as illegal logging or local
ordinances, drugs, RA 10591 “Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition REGULATION
Act” and estafa. As for Bacarra for non- index crimes the highest crime committed is
Reckless Imprudence resulting to damage of Properties with a total of 42 crimes within
the January 01,2018 to September 10, 2018. Next is the violation of special laws
specifically the RA 10591 and drugs with a total of 20 crimes committed. Third is Reckless
Imprudence resulting to Physical Injury with a total of 17 crimes committed. Fourth is
Estafa with a total of 5 crimes committed and lastly Reckless Imprudence resulting to
Homicide with a total of 4 crimes committed.

Nature of NON-INDEX CRIMES Total Per

Crime Total Crimes Committed Crime
RECKLESS Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept
IMPRUDEN 1-10
CE
RESULTIN
G TO
Homicide 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
Physical 1 1 2 2 1 5 1 3 1 17
Injury
Damage to 5 4 8 5 5 7 4 3 1 42
Property
Violations of 1 0 2 0 3 4 5 4 1 20
Special S
(e.g 10591,
Drugs)
 Other Non- 2 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 5
Index
Crimes (e.g
estafa)
Total by 10 7 12 9 10 17 10 10 3
Month
Grand Total Non- Index Crimes 88

Table 3. Average Monthly Crime Rate Statistics as of 01 January 2018 to 10

September 2018

As for the record that we gathered, the highest month that we have a higher rate
of crime in the month of June with a total of 47.98%, next is the month of April with 31.05%
third is the month of January, May, July and August with the same rate of 28.22%, fourth
is February with 19.76% and lastly the month of September from the inclusive dates of 1-
10 with 11.29%.

Average Monthly Crime Rate of Index and Non-Index Crimes

Jan Feb Mar April May Jun Jul Aug Sept 1-10
28.22 19.76 33.87 31.05 28.22 47.98 28.22 28.22 11.29
Overall Average:82.61

Drug Surrenderees as of the year 2016 to Present

According to Police Inspector Joel Ramos Morales they have a total of 374
surrenderees in Bacarra. In coordination with the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare
and Development) they are offering wellness program to the said surrenderees. Also
President Rodrigo Duterte provides Pangkabuhayan prgam like dispersals so that they
can have their own livelihood.

Bacarra is a peaceful town in the Province, comparing the rate of both index and
non-index crimes, the highest rate that they have is for the non-index crimes specifically
Reckless Imprudence Resulting to Damage of Properties. The goal of the PNP is to have
a crime free country. There are many ways of curbing, if not totally eliminating crime.
Bacarra Police station continues to increase the presence of the authorities to those crime
hotspots of the town, follows the methods that they have and to improve the said methods.
Aside from that is ensures good conduct among the Police of Bacarra. Lastly is the
cooperation of local government units, non-government organizations and the community
is the key in eliminating crime.