Manila, Philippines – The government launched the Inter-Agency Anti-Kotong Task Force (IAA-TF) and the “Kotong Hotline” yesterday to combat the bad practice of mulcting or “kotong” among policemen and traffic enforcers.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has created two police officer-led teams as “strike force” for the IAA-TF that would go after scalawag policemen and traffic enforcers engaged in mulcting and extortion activities in Metro Manila.
The creation of the IAA-TF coincided with the launching of the DILG anti-kotong hotline 09188882749 where victims can report acts of mulcting. Under the anti-kotong hotline, complainants will be asked to call or provide via text messaging their information that includes the date, time, place of occurrence, the modus operandi, and the identity of the perpetrators. The DILG assured complainants that their complaints would be treated with utmost confidentiality to protect them. (Czarina Nicole O. Ong)