PNP: 17,000 recruits eyed to replace corrupt cops

Over 17,000 aspiring police officers will be recruited this year to replace corrupt personnel in the Philippine National Police, newly installed PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar announced yesterday.

Eleazar, who is known to be a strict disciplinarian for berating rogue and inefficient police officers in the past, said changes would be made in the PNP’s recruitment process to ensure that only the “best candidates” would be accepted.

Eleazar noted that the PNP had been encountering problems with errant police personnel because most of the recruits were “not even qualified in the first place.”

When he assumed the top PNP post on Friday, Eleazar vowed to intensify the internal cleansing program in the police force to purge the organization of scalawags.

“We will start the internal cleansing with the recruitment of 17,000 police officers this year. We want to get rid of corruption, padrino system and patronage in the PNP,” he said.

To achieve his goal, Eleazar said the quick response (QR) code system would be implemented, wherein the applicants’ qualifications and not their names and faces would be displayed in the vetting process to prevent affiliates or friends of the candidates from abusing their authority.

“They kill mercilessly. There are even those who get away with molesting relatives,” Eleazar said in Filipino. “They should not have become police officers had there been much scrutiny in the recruitment process.”

Eleazar also vowed to ensure the swift resolution of the investigation of rogue policemen while still following due process before dismissing them from the service.

“Remove them from their posts while they are being investigated so that we follow due process. There are so many people who want to replace them and we will not regret removing them,” Eleazar said.

The 200,000-strong police force has been accused of human rights violations in connection with the implementation of the war on drugs as well as corruption.