President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to raise the bounty for police officers involved in illegal drugs and other high crimes will be a strong deterrent to the “wicked ways” of bad cops, an official said Sunday.
Philippine National Police spokesman Benigno Durana told dzBB radio that Duterte’s decision also favored the good cops in the fight against scalawags.
Duterte on Friday increased the bounty for “ninja” or rogue cops to P5 million from P3 million.
But Durana said with or without the bounty, the PNP would resolutely continue to cleanse the ranks as it was the organization’s constitutional duty. He said rooting out the bad cops should be done within the bounds of the law.
“The Presidents remark on the bounty is a very strong deterrent… so that the bad cops would turn away from their wicked ways,” Durana said quoting PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde.
“The bigger bounty is also a good incentive for the good cops to fight the rogue ones.”
Asked if the problem of scalawags had worsened, prompting the President to hike the bounty, Durana said, he could not say, but the problem had been there before the Duterte administration.
But with the encouragement of the President, the drive against rogue cops had now become “serious, determined, deliberate and aggressive.”
“The President’s pronouncement has placed the PNP in a better position now in the fight against scalawags among the ranks,” Durana said.
Ninja cops was the tag given to police officers involved in the illegal drug trade. Duterte initially offered P2 million for the capture of these cops in August last year, and then raised it to P3 million a month later.
“If you bring him [rogue cop] to me dead, you have P5 million; if alive, you have P10,000,” Duterte said in a speech during the convention of the regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago in Davao City.
