No ‘quota system’ in PNP, Acorda insists

MANILA, Philippines — There is no quota system in the Philippine National Police wherein police officers are required to produce accomplishments in their areas of responsibility, PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said yesterday.

Imposing a quota on police operatives is counter-productive in the fight against criminality and would only result in police taking shortcuts to meet their targets, according to Acorda.

“Whenever there is pressure from us to make accomplishments, diyan nagkaloko-loko ang pulis (that is where the police go wrong),” he told reporters.

He emphasized that while they want aggressive law enforcement operations, these should be done in accordance with standard operating procedures to ensure that suspected criminals who are arrested are convicted.

Acorda also gave assurance that under his leadership, operatives are required to have a briefing before they conduct operations.

“We want it honest so that in court, the criminals we catch will surely be penalized,” he said in Filipino.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has previously called on the PNP to stop arresting people for the sake of accomplishments or meeting quotas.

The police chief also pushed back at the suggestion of anti-crime watchdog Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) when it urged President Marcos to apply an iron fist policy to discipline erring police officers.

Acorda said the number of police officers who were penalized this year dropped by 83 percent, with at least 1,690 police officers sanctioned due to various offenses from January to August and 583 getting kicked out of the service due to grave misconduct.

“It reflects that the rate of police officers who commit infractions is going down and this reflects that our police are better now in a general perspective point of view,” he said.

As far as Acorda is concerned, he has always been strict and firm in his decisions when sanctioning police officers involved in nefarious activities and violate their rules and regulations.

VACC president Arsenio Evangelista earlier suggested that Acorda should be more visible on television and hands-on when addressing problems brought by police scalawags following a spate of controversies hounding the PNP. Among these are the killing of 17-year-old Jerhode Baltazar by policemen from Navotas City and the reported looting of a house in Imus, Cavite by anti-narcotics officers.

“It’s not like I have to show that I am strict. No, it’s my kind of leadership but I am firm in implementing all these policies and guidelines,” Acorda said.