398 cops sacked for crime involvement

FILE: PNP top cop Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa (Photo: Philippine National Police/Facebook)

Sticking to his goal of internal cleansing in the organization, Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa dismissed 398 policemen involved in drugs, rape, extortion, kidnapping, and other crimes.

“As the father of the organization, my heart bleeds when I sign dismissal orders for delinquent policemen. It’s a tough decision, but it had to be done for the sake of the organization,” dela Rosa said in a statement on February 28.

The PNP Public Information Office (PNP-PIO) said that among the 398 cops, and 91 were sacked because of being absent without an official leave (AWOL).  The rest were dismissed for their crime involvement in which 151 were positive in the use of illegal drugs, 23 were involved in robbery and extortion, 10 for being involved in kidnapping, 22 for murder, six for homicide, three for rape, three for illegal arrest and detention, two for parricide, and one for graft and malversation.

PIO added that 70 were involved in estafa and grave misconduct due to immorality, and dishonesty.

Meanwhile, according to PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM), these 398 were part of the 1,614 cases of policemen. Meaning there are 1,216 more cases in the PNP that are being investigated.

Since 2016, 14, 515 administrative cases in PNP were investigated, with 8,422 cases resolved. There are currently 6,093 pending cases, according to PNP Spokesman John Bulalacao.

“This is part of the continuous internal reform in the organization. The penalties which include dismissal from the service are due to administrative cases,” Bulalacao said.

Most of these dismissals happened in dela Rosa’s stint as the top cop; in which he also formed the Counter Intelligence Task Force (CITF).