The Philippine National Police (PNP) said cases filed against policemen decreased even though they were ranked number second on most cases filed against government personnel in the Ombudsman.

Senior Superintendent Dionardo Carlos, the PNP spokesperson, told a news briefing there are a total of 1, 022 cases filed for 2016 from more than 1,200 cases for 2015.

"If we look at the data released by the Ombudsman understandably because of the nature of the work of PNP, we also received a lot of cases. But if you will look at the record, 2016 is lesser compared to previous year so we are improving," Carlos said.

He said the cases filed before the Ombudsman against police officers were non-service related cases involving actions in their private capacity.

He added some cases were harassment filed against police personnel by persons just to get back on them.

"There are some cases of getting back at our police officers who are performing their duty and they find the Ombudsman and other investigating bodies as venue where they can get back at working policemen," Carlos explained.

Carlos said cases filed before the Ombudsman does not necessarily reflect the state of affairs in the PNP.

He requested the public to refrain from using the investigative body to just get revenge on their policemen.

"If they are wrong, we don't tolerate them. If this is service connected and we see it as harassment case on our working policemen, then we will provide necessary support," he said. `Ella Dionisio/DMS