Police personnel who maintain a presence online should keep their distance from political matters and concentrate on their core duty of upholding peace and order, according to PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr.
Speaking on Sunday, June 7, Nartatez was direct about where the boundaries lie for officers active on social media. “We have no business involving ourselves in politics. We do not have that privilege. That is not part of our mandate,” he said. He went on to stress that officers should stick to their training and to the role the public counts on them to fill: “Let us focus on what we are trained for and what the Filipino people expect us to do: enforce the law and maintain peace and order.”
His remarks came against a backdrop of online channels carrying a steady volume of false reports, with vloggers and content creators adding their own commentary to the mix. Nartatez called on ordinary users to be discerning about what they take in online, a position that lined up with a prior advisory from the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center flagging the circulation of misinformation, disinformation and unverified material.
On the security front, with political events drawing crowds to rallies and similar gatherings, the PNP chief gave assurances that his force is equipped to keep order and to act should any unrest break out.
The PNP has also thrown its weight behind a Malacañang instruction calling on government bodies to back a coordinated anti-crime push reaching across the country. That directive, issued as Memorandum Circular 120, obliges state agencies and local government units to lend support to the National Police Commission as it rolls out the 2026 National Crime Prevention Program.
The program functions as the government’s newest framework for a multi-agency approach to fighting crime. Among its priorities are upgrading the tools available to law enforcement, building digital systems that can share data across agencies, and strengthening community-driven efforts to prevent crime. It further requires the creation of a national knowledge management system dedicated to crime prevention.
Nartatez tied the police organization’s commitment back to that broader effort, saying, “The PNP stands ready to enhance coordination, intelligence sharing and law enforcement operations to protect the public.”
