Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) OIC-Secretary Eduardo M. Año warns police scalawags of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to ‘clean up their act’ or risk being terminated out of service.
“Clean up your act or leave. No one will be spared. Police officers who will be found culpable of any criminal involvement shall be removed from the service,” says Año, a former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff.
“The DILG and PNP shall ensure that President Rodrigo Duterte’s vision of ridding the police force of the ‘bad eggs’ will be carried out as part of the massive internal cleansing of the government against corruption,” he adds.
Año says that the current government is committed in exposing these police scalawags out in the open and placing them behind bars while granting them due process until they are proven guilty. He also explains the urgency of the matter as “the public craves for actions that will quash the culture of impunity in the government”.
“Sa mga pulis na hindi mapigil sa kanilang kabulastugan at patuloy na ginagamit ang kanilang posisyon para makapanlamang ng kapwa, I tell you now, we are after you,” warns Año.
According to Año, since 2016, more than 6000 police commissioned and non-commissioned officers including non-uniformed personnel were either dismissed from service, demoted, and suspended.
Included also in the said figure were cases of police officers who experienced forfeited salaries, reprimand, restriction, and withholding of privileges as part of the PNP internal cleansing campaign.
“I dont care kahit maubos lahat ng pulis, basta mawala lang lahat ng scalawags. We can always find recruits to become good policemen,” says the DILG Chief.
The PNP currently implements its intensified internal cleansing campaign which is ‘not just about punishing people’. It has a three-pronged approach namely: Preventive involves assessment from training to operations to search for loopholes that will create opportunities for criminal activities; Punitive involves filing cases to police officers; and Restorative which involves recovery and wellness programs.
Continuous efforts in ensuring that rogue and erring cops will not persist are also enforced by PNP’s Counter Intelligence Task Force, established last year to lead police’s internal cleansing campaign.
He also says that as President Duterte followed through with his promise of increasing their salaries, it is expected that they will do their job doubly harder and will maintain a credibility worthy of their positions.
The DILG Chief explains that with this increase, the public is expecting double the service from the police force that is far from corruption and abuses. He says the increase is for some added inspiration in providing an improved service and to evade being lured to dishonesty.
Early this year, the base pay of Police/Fire/Jail Officer 1 was increased from P 14,834.00 to P 29,668.00 with a hazard pay of P 540.00. –R4A/DILGCO