CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – At least 495 police officers in Central Luzon have been dismissed from service due to various infractions since the internal cleansing was initiated in 2016, the Police Regional Office-Central Luzon (PRO-3) said on Monday.
Brig. Gen. Matthew P. Baccay, PRO3 regional director, said aside from the dismissal from the police service, 536 others were suspended, 55 were demoted, 58 were forfeited of their salaries and 78 were reprimanded.
He also said 4,932 cops were exonerated from their administrative cases while the others' cases have yet to be resolved.
He said those police officers meted with disciplinary actions were given due process during the duration of the investigation before final decisions were released.
Baccay vowed to sustain the PRO3’s internal cleansing campaign to regain the public’s trust and confidence.
"We will continue to weed out hoodlums and punish the undisciplined among our ranks through the strict application of the punitive sanctions for violations of Philippine National Police rules and regulations and at the same time, intensified counter-intelligence efforts against illegal activities of police personnel are being undertaken,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, at least 379 persons were arrested for various offenses during a weeklong anti-criminality drive in Bulacan from May 23-29.
In his report on Monday, Col. Charlie a. Cabradilla, acting provincial director of the Bulacan Philippine National Police (PNP), said of the total offenders, 90 drug suspects were nabbed that led to the seizure of some PHP797,000 worth of illegal drugs.
Cabradilla said the drugs were 267 sachets of shabu weighing approximately 94.80 grams, and 21 sachets of dried marijuana leaves weighing approximately 1,332.4 grams, assorted drug paraphernalia and buy-bust money.
He said 17 most wanted persons and 98 other fugitives were also nabbed in different manhunt operations by virtue of a warrant of arrest served by the tracker teams.
He added that 168 suspects were arrested in anti-illegal gambling operations.
On the other hand, Cabradilla said “Oplan Katok” operations yielded 74 firearms that were surrendered to different police stations for safekeeping.
He said six suspects were arrested and eight firearms were recovered or confiscated for violation of the Omnibus Election Code and illegal possession of unregistered or loose firearms.
A total of 2,044 unregistered and undocumented motorcycles were impounded for safekeeping and verification. (PNA)
