Hundreds of PNP personnel charged for illegal drug use

FILE: Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald Dela Rosa. (PNA photo)

MANILA, Aug. 10 — As the campaign against illegal drugs is intensified, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said similar efforts are done to eliminate rogue policemen as 247 uniformed and non-uniformed personnel were charged for illegal drug use.

Dela Rosa said all of these individuals were charged immediately after being found positive for drug use during a series of random narcotics tests.

“(And our efforts to clean the PNP), we remain ruthless as well in our campaign against scalawags within the PNP organization,” he said during the PNP’s 116th founding anniversary Wednesday.

He said the PNP Internal Affairs Service has also filed 1,835 administrative cases against PNP personnel involved in illegal drugs activities.

A total of 284 personnel were dismissed from service for grave offenses — 160 drug-related offenses and 124 other offenses such as murder, AWOL (absence without leave) robbery/extortion and kidnapping, among others.

Efforts to clean the police ranks gained momentum with the creation of the PNP Counter Intelligence Task Force to go after erring police personnel involved in illegal activities.

“The challenges of the past year have been tremendous and overwhelming, but because we had only the best interests of the community in our hearts, we prevailed and will continue to prevail against challenges that may still emerge ahead,” Dela Rosa said.