MANILA, Philippines – Even as the Philippine National Police (PNP) takes the forefront of the government’s drug war, some 454 of its own personnel who were found guilty of involvement in the drug trade have been dismissed from service, Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, officer-in-charge of the PNP, said Monday.
Gamboa said that the data covering July 2016 until September 20, 2019 shows that 352 personnel tested positive for drug use, while another 102 were involved in other drug-related activities including coddling drug lords.
Gamboa, who is himself one of the candidates to be the 23rd PNP chief, said in a press briefing that the data is part of the “significant highlights” of the internal cleansing program of the PNP, as the organization recently found itself hounded by the controversy on drug recycling.
He said he released the figures to “inform the public how dead serious the PNP is in running after rogues in uniform.”
Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said the numbers include non-uniformed personnel of the PNP or those involved in administrative tasks.
According to Gamboa, the 454 personnel are among the 9,172 officers and staff who have been penalized with administrative charges due to involvement in criminal activities and violation of rules and regulations of the PNP.
He said this figure is roughly 4.7 percent of the total number of PNP personnel currently in service.
In total, there were 2,806 personnel dismissed from the service during the period; 535 were demoted in rank; 4,721 were suspended; 762 were reprimanded; 60 were restricted to quarters; 208 were forfeited of salary; and 80 were withheld of privileges.
Gamboa said that in 2019 alone, 2,286 personnel were slapped with penalties for administrative cases. /je