PNP DISMISSES 398 POLICE SCALAWAGS

The Philippine National Police has dismissed 398 personnel in a campaign to cleanse its ranks of scalawags, officials said on Wednesday, days after President Duterte remarked that Manila policemen were “pains in the ass.”

“It’s a tough decision but it had to be done for the sake of the organization,” said PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa, who signed the dismissal orders of the 398 personnel, mostly for drug offenses.

A total of 1,614 policemen were slapped with disciplinary penalties for administrative offenses committed from 2016 to the present, according to PNP records.

Positive for drug use

Some 398 policemen were dismissed, and they included 151 who tested positive for drug use, and 16 who were involved in illegal drug activities.

Ninety-one others were dismissed for absence without official leave; 22 for murder; 10 for kidnapping; six for homi- cide; three for rape; another three for illegal arrest and detention; and two for parricide.

Some 14,515 administrative cases have been filed since 2016 against policemen, 8,422 of which have been resolved.

Mr. Duterte, speaking in Davao City, described policemen in Manila as “perennial pains in the ass.”

“There seems to be a breakdown there (in Manila). I don’t know what causes them to be derelicts,” the President said.