Palace says ongoing reform in national police aims to cleanse its ranks of rogue officers

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MANILA — The Palace on Tuesday affirmed that there are serious efforts within the Philippine National Police (PNP) to cleanse its ranks of rogue cops.

In a press briefing in Malacañang on Tuesday, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said this small number of rogue police officers should not tarnish the image of the entire police organization.

“They form a very small proportion of the total strength of the PNP,” Coloma said.

Nine police officers, seven of whom are members of the La Loma Police station, have been linked to a recent robbery and illegal detention case. Two of them have been arrested.

Asked by reporters if he thinks the September 1 incident along EDSA is a major blow to the 125,000-member police organization, Coloma said it would be a major setback if there is no effort on the part of the PNP leadership to clean up its ranks.

“What would be a major blow is if there would be a situation where the PNP is not doing its duty,” he said.

The PNP is doing its job, given the challenges of a large number of people to be covered and given the shortage in manpower and equipment that it is still trying to address, he said.

Despite the incident, the police is working to gain the trust of the public, Coloma said, stressing the importance of police and community coordination to fight crimes.

To make the PNP more efficient, the government is working to increase its members, buy more weapons and equipment, and go after loose firearms, he said.