MANILA, Philippines – A special board of inquiry has been formed to probe Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) beatings that made headlines recently.

Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) president and retired Police General Ricardo de Leon announced this on Wednesday, March 28.

“Mayroon tayong isinasagawa ngayon na board of inquiry. ‘Yung investigation being handled by PNPA, ‘yung board of inquiry is broader. Para makita what happened, we are going to input the 2017 – ‘yung nakita ko sa YouTube at sa Rappler,” De Leon told police reporters in a phone interview. (EXCLUSIVE: Video in 2017 shows beating at PNP Academy)

(We now have a board of inquiry. The investigation of the board of inquiry is broader than the PNPA’s. To see what happened, we are going to input the 2017 [beating] – the one I saw on Youtube and Rappler.)

The PPSC oversees all training activities for police, fire, and jail officials nationwide, including the management of the PNPA.

PPSC vs PNPA investigations: The PNPA is bent on probing the recent 2018 graduation mauling which left 6 fresh graduates with contusions and lacerations.

So far, the PNPA has linked 20 underclass cadets to the incident, all of whom are confined to Camp Castañeda in Silang town, Cavite as investigations move forward.

The PPSC, meanwhile, will go wide in its probe, aiming to answer how the 2018 mauling is related to the 2017 paddling caught on video, how cadets were able to get away with paddling rites inside the PNPA, and what structural changes are needed to prevent more violent incidents inside the academy. – Rappler.com