Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde said as part of their internal cleansing effort its Counter Intelligence Task Force (CITF) have apprehended a total of 90 policemen while 520 cops were dismissed for illegal drug use.

“They have arrested 90 personnel. That is over and above of those who were arrested by other law enforcers from the regional offices themselves,” he said.

“On the CITF (they have arrested) 90, and all of them were jailed and were already charged both criminal and administrative (charges),” he added.

Albayalde said a police superintendent is the highest ranked policeman who have been arrested by the CITF.

He said more than a thousand policemen are in the watch list of the CITF.

“As far as the counter intelligence watch list is concerned, we have at least 1,700 if I am not mistaken. That is if there are no changes because we conduct validation every quarter. It may increase or decrease,” he said.

Despite the PNP’s effort to cleanse its ranks, it can be recalled that a chief of police in Bulacan allegedly involved in extortion was recently arrested in an entrapment operation by the CITF.

With these incidents, Albayalde admitted that criminal acts done by some policemen is difficult to change as it has probably become their culture.

“This has probably become a culture in the PNP and when you are trying to change a culture that is very difficult. You cannot do it overnight,” he said.

“Probably not even during my term but hopefully and I am hopeful that at least until next year, during our term we can change it substantially, we can see changes on our ranks,” he noted.

“We are not saying that totally we can change this because it already became a culture. When the habit becomes a culture it is really difficult to change,” he added. Robina Asido/DMS