The internal cleansing process at the Philippine National Police (PNP) has been implemented without letup, resulting in more than 2,600 policemen either discharged from the service or meted disciplinary action.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said in a statement that the purge was pursued with a keen eye on the so-called bad eggs and undesirable personnel who do not adhere to the norms of discipline and proper conduct.
Azurin cited a report of the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) which showed that 2,635 erring PNP personnel were meted with due penalties in 2022.
The punishments range from withholding of privileges to dismissal from the service, depending on the gravity of the offense.
Azurin said this hardline stance of the PNP against breach of discipline and misconduct among the ranks is the “most prominent manifestation of its genuine responsiveness and commitment to reform the organization and enable it to absorb further development and modernization.”
Those dealt with penalties included 584 dismissals from the service; 164 demotions, 1,225 who were suspensions, 456 reprimands; 117 salary forfeitures; 26 restricted to quarters, and 69 denials of privileges.
Those whose services were terminated included 321 who have gone on absence without leave (AWOL) 42 for drug use, 15 for failure to attend court duty, 20 for violence against women, and others for involvement in criminal cases for murder, homicide, carnapping, illegal drugs, robbery extortion and rape.
“I would like to point out the correlation of organizational reform and individual performance as benchmark factors to the accomplishment of unit mission. Through significant gains in the PNP internal reform program, PNP units fared well in performing our law enforcement and public safety mandate,” Azurin said.
The PNP chief also noted an improvement in the national crime environment throughout 2022 compared to the previous year.
He said there was a significant decrease in both index and non-index crime incidents, as well as the eight focus crime categories and eight special complex crimes.
Among the eight focus crimes, incidents of carnapping dropped by 20.51 percent in 2022, while similar double-digit decreases in incidents of murder and homicide were recorded at 11.89 percent and 9.98 percent, respectively.
“The PNP is doing its best to address all public safety concerns to better improve law enforcement and public safety operations in the coming months. We also recognize that trust between law enforcement and the community is essential for a safe and prosperous society, and we strive to earn and maintain that trust and confidence every day,” Azurin said.
Meanwhile, PNP’s the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) fulfilled its zero backlog policy as it attained an Administrative Case Resolution Efficiency (ACRE) of 100 percent in 2022.
In a separate statement, IAS chief Alfegar Triambulo said as of Dec. 29, 2022, the IAS resolved all 1,581 police administrative cases that it received and had deadlines within the year.
In previous years, the IAS has attained consistently high ACRE, with 62 percent in 2016, 89 percent in 2017, 85 percent in 2018, 99.94 percent in 2019, 99.75 percent in 2020, and 99.65 percent in 2021.
The zero backlog policy was first implemented in 2016 which aims to support the mandate of the IAS as the lead agency in the campaign against all forms of misconduct in the PNP.
