Napolcom Regional Director Homer Mariano Cabaral clarifies during a press briefing reports that the 386 police officers involved in the exams issue were removed but not dismissed from service, and they will be allowed to retake the tests three years from now.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
AFTER being caught cheating on their April 17, 2011, entrance exam by the National Police Commission (Napolcom), the 386 cops will be allowed to retake the test three years from now.
Napolcom Regional Director Homer Mariano Cabaral also clarified that the 386 cops were “removed, not dismissed” from service after their test results were invalidated.
“I have to correct this because it involved the integrity of Napolcom and PNP. More so to the Napolcom because it will undermine our function to give examination to policeman who wants to become a police officer,” he said.
The commission conducts examinations twice a year, for PNP Entrance Exam, Police Officer, Senior Police Officer, Police Inspector and Police Superintendent.
Cabaral said the commission caught two answer codes, particularly for PNP Entrance Exam Set C and for Senior Police Officer Examination Set D, in one among 28 testing areas in the country.
There are 200 questions in the entrance exam, he said.
“Ang statistics ani mahimong magkapareha mos (there is a chance to have the same) wrong answers pero (but) 25 percent ra,” he said.
The Napolcom resolution stated that their findings showed that “386 examinees have a high percentage, ranging from 50 percent to 100 percent, of homogenous wrong answers.”
Based on statistics, 50 to 100 percent of the same wrong answers is considered evidential cheating, Cabaral said. He also said the cops are all from Mindanao.
“Walay na-involved ana sa Region 7. Kargado na didto sa (All of them are from) Mindanao,” he said.
Cabaral said the 20 topnotchers from Mindanao in the April 2011 exam allegedly cheated during the test based on their analysis of the test results which showed the same “answer pattern.”
“The Napolcom resolution said 96.49 percent of the top 20 passers were from Mindanao and most of these passers are flunkers three to five times in previous examinations,” Napolcom lawyer Risty Sibay said.
Cabaral said the 18 police officers in Central Visayas who took the April 2011 exam were not included in the 386 cops in the list.