‘Cop quota system difficult to prove’

MANILA, Philippines - Allegations of a “quota system” on the weekly bribes that higher police officials receive from their subordinates are hard to prove, and unless somebody steps up to substantiate his claim no investigation can be made, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II asserted yesterday.

“We are inviting the official who made that comment if he has information or basis so we could investigate. We could not start with a general accusation against the PNP. Where are we going to start?” Roxas asked.

On Thursday, a ranking police official revealed a quota system on bribes being demanded by higher officials to their subordinates and drugs are the roots of corruption in the PNP.

Quota, in police parlance, is the weekly grease money that lower-ranked officers are supposed to give to their superiors in exchange for their positions.

The official said the bribe quota ranges from P3,000 to P7,000 a week, “depending on your assignment or unit.”

Roxas said there should be a concrete incident like the EDSA “hulidap,” where the PNP managed to solve the case because they “started from something,” referring to the picture taken by a netizen that went viral on the Internet.

Roxas said he heard about the culture of bribery in the PNP but stressed the importance of initiating an investigation into the issue.

The official said most of the collections come from illegal gambling operations in their respective areas of jurisdiction, “tong” or grease money collections from jeepney drivers and illegal vendors “to fill the coffers intended for the officers.”

“Most vulnerable to this kind of system are the chiefs of police and heads of different units. But the ones who suffer the brunt are the lower-ranked officers, who resort to illegal things,” the police official said.

Roxas said somebody must step up to reveal what he knows to solidify his claim.

Roxas added he is coordinating with Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Henares on how the BIR is implementing lifestyle check, the procedures, among other measures that can be adopted to the PNP.

“These are all preventive measures and concrete steps. If there are personnel who are really involved in crimes, the people can trust that the PNP will act on it,” he said.

Roxas did not elaborate on the issue of the lifestyle check, but said “talks are in the works.”