(File photo)
MANILA – Some 18 police officers and non-uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) are facing dismissal after they tested positive for illegal drugs during a random test.
PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas on Monday said he ordered the pre-charge investigation and summary dismissal proceedings against the 17 police officers and one non-uniformed personnel.
“Starting this year I have already signed the directive that all cases related to random drug testing at tao namin sa drugs should be resolved by the regional director immediately para mapabilis po (to hasten the process) at centralized na ang recording ngayon (and recording is now centralized)," Sinas said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.
"We have procured more drug test kits and we are conducting regular drug test to our people particularly sa Drug Enforcement Units para ma-prevent o ma-detect kung sinong gumagamit (to prevent and to detect those who are using illegal drugs),” Sinas added.
In the same press briefing, Col. Grace Eustaquio, deputy director for administration of the Crime Laboratory said the number of personnel who tested positive covering the period Jan. 1 to Feb. 20 this year were four from the Police Regional Office Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), two from the national headquarters, three from the National Capital Region Police Office, two from Police Regional Office-3 (Central Luzon), four from PRO-4A (Calabarzon), one each from PRO-6 (Western Visayas), PRO-10 (Northern Mindanao) and PRO-13 (Caraga).
“This comprises about 0.009 percent of the total number of personnel subjected to drug test,” Eustaquio said.
The personnel are now undergoing pre-charge investigation by the different PROs, she noted.
Earlier, Sinas has ordered the surprise drug testing of all police personnel under the ongoing internal cleansing program.
A total of 16,839 police officers have been penalized since 2016 under the PNP’s internal cleansing program to rid its ranks of scalawags. (PNA)
