PNP sacks 52 rogue cops

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has dismissed 52 police officers from the service as part of a campaign to purge the police force of misfits and scalawags.

PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. approved the dismissal of the 52 rogue policemen, who were charged with offenses ranging from grave misconduct, serious irregularities, and involvement in criminal activities.

Among those dismissed are a commissioned officer, 50 non-commissioned officers, and a non-uniformed personnel. PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said the 52 have forfeited all benefits due them.

The PNP has also imposed sanctions on 313 personnel for various administrative offenses. They were either demoted, suspended, had their salary forfeited, reprimanded, forced to resign or restricted to quarters.

From January to April this year, the PNP also dropped 55 employees from its roster, mostly for being absent without official leave.

Data from the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) showed that 365 employees meted disciplinary punishment were among 881 employees who were investigated and charged in 589 cases handled by the different summary hearing boards over the past four months.

The DPRM’s Task Force “Patnubay” keeps track of all administrative and criminal cases involving PNP personnel.

There are still 3,127 pending administrative cases awaiting resolution in the summary hearing boards, mostly cases carried over from previous years.

Several Camp Crame-based officials lauded Razon’s action, saying that it was about time for him to put his foot down because a good number of policemen on the ground have not been doing their jobs.

“Many lower-ranking policemen just treat their jobs as sidelines. So the orders from the top are not followed,” one official said.

He claimed that robbers and carjackers have been doing criminal acts without any fear of being caught.

“We don’t have to go far. In Metro Manila alone, there has been a rash of robberies and killings. Victory Liner’s buses were torched. Where are our police foot and mobile patrols? There seems to be a breakdown of discipline within our ranks,” another police officer said.