2 police officials, 18 others sacked

La Trinidad, Benguet , Philippines  – Two police officers and 18 others were dismissed from the ranks of the Philippine National Police (PNP) here.

Ridding its ranks of scalawags, the Cordillera police also suspended 28 other policemen (two police commissioned officers and 26 non-commissioned officers) for various offenses, said Chief Superintendent Samuel Diciano, Cordillera police’s deputy regional director for administration.

This is for the month of January to the present.

Diciano claimed the enforcement of disciplinary action is part of their intervention to “clean up the ranks and weed out defiant police officers.”

Diciano said the police command will also “carrot” erring officers and men “for their transformation” into having a new sense of responsibility and commitment to the police service.

Meanwhile, in another bid to show a good image, a senior police officer who had illegally occupied land inside Camp Dangwa, the Regional police headquarters, showed an example when he himself voluntarily tore down his house this week.

To pave way for the development of Camp Dangwa, some organic police personnel also followed suit. 

As early as last year, residents in the premises of Camp Dangwa undertook a series of dialogues with the Regional Command where the notice for the development of the camp and construction of government structures were tackled.

They were given ample time to look for alternative places and notice to vacate.

According to Regional Director Chief Superintendent Orlando Pestaño, with the full implementation of development and as proposal site for material recovery facility in compliance with the government’s solid waste disposal program, government is also constructing offices.

Pestaño hailed the police officers and men who are now doing their part in transferring their properties and leaving their houses for the realization of a worthy development of police services.

He said that as much as possible, they don’t want to implement forced eviction and it is a priority to “protect the PNP property and interest of the government.”