The Senate public information and mass media committee asked yesterday the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to focus its efforts in investigating rogue policemen that would lead to the cleansing of the police force.
In seeking for an update on the probe of policemen, Sen. Grace Poe, committee chairwoman, said appropriate charges should be filed against scalawags in the police service.
She had emphasized the necessity of appointing an independent civilian as IAS head, not one who is a member of the force who reports to the PNP chief.
The lady senator learned that the PNP has so far conducted 1,261 investigations on deaths during the government’s anti-narcotics operations that led to the killing of drug suspects.
Of this number, 547 policemen have been charged with administrative complaints, 356 investigations are still pending, 27 policemen have so far been terminated, 302 cases dropped and closed, 28 submitted for summary hearing proceedings, and one submitted to disciplinary authorities following the resolution of the case by IAS.
As for the more than 159,000 policemen tested for illegal drugs, 164 tested positive for illegal drug use.
(Mario Casayuran)
