279 rogue cops dismissed from July to Dec. 7–PNP

ATOTAL of 279 erring police officers have been dismissed from the service under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced on Monday.

Citing latest data, PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said that from July 1 to December 7, 2022, a total of 1,211 PNP personnel were meted with various sanctions—ranging from withholding of privileges to outright dismissal from the service.

Out of this number, 279 personnel have been dismissed for different administrative cases lodged against them, 79 were demoted, 472 were suspended, while 381 personnel were meted with penalties of forfeiture of salary, reprimand, restriction and withholding of privileges.

“The PNP will never tolerate any irregularity and breach of discipline in the police service. We will always be steadfast in our thrust to discipline our personnel while we value each and everyone’s welfare while serving the Filipino people,” Azurin said.

The Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the PNP has taken an aggressive tack in handling and investigating police personnel who were slapped with administrative charges.

Working hand in hand with the IAS is the PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group, whose functions include receiving complaints and information against erring personnel and conducting relevant information-gathering activities, detecting and conducting intelligence buildup on the involvement of PNP personnel in illegal activities, acts of graft and corruption, and other crimes for the conduct of prompt countermeasures, and initiating law enforcement operations against rogue cops.

Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office 7 (PRO7) has recorded a decrease in administrative cases involving its personnel accused of committing various wrongdoings.