PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief, General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr., on Monday, assured the public that their “reward and punishment” program is fully working to ferret out “misfits and scalawags” in the force while rewarding the deserving ones.

“To guarantee this commitment, the PNP has an institutionalized disciplinary mechanism in place that administers a judicious system of reward and punishment that is quick in giving due recognition for good performance, yet swift and decisive in imposing stiff sanctions for misconduct and breach of discipline,” the top cop said.

The PNP chief earlier vowed to sustain the PNP’s massive anti-illegal drugs campaign and “internal cleansing program” as he cited the force’s success in accounting for over P5 billion worth of shabu and other prohibited substances from January 1 to April 25 this year.

The top cop said that during the period, the PNP conducted 15,589 anti-illegal drug operations, which led to the arrest of 20,799 drug suspects, many of them engaged in drug trafficking activities.

He added that those operations resulted in the confiscation of illegal drugs valued at P5,532,186,002.25.

“This is a great accomplishment in our campaign against illegal drugs. We will continue to be aggressive in all our operations against big-time drug personalities or High-value Individuals (HVIs),” he emphasized.

Acorda has assured both Houses of Congress of an intensified PNP internal cleansing program under his command.

The top cop particularly welcomed calls by the Philippine Senate led by Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri and the House of Representatives led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin F. Romualdez of his strong resolve to lead the “massive house-cleaning of the police force.”

“The Philippine National Police gratefully acknowledges the support of the Senate and the House of Representatives in all ongoing internal cleansing efforts of the organization. We assure our Honorable Senators and Congressmen that all measures are in place to prevent every possible opportunity for irregularities to be committed by police personnel, and if committed, appropriate actions will be readily taken,” he said.

“At the same time, internal disciplinary mechanisms are enhanced to establish certainty of commensurate punishments as the PNP’s stern response to every case involving any form of misbehavior or abuse by its members,” Acorda added.

According to the PNP chief, they fully recognize the concerns raised by members of Congress that the very “few rogue elements” in the police force must not be given any room to propagate their activities and destroy the reputation of the entire organization.

“We welcome their expression of support to our sincere actions to maintain the highest standard of transparency and accountability in the police service. Our way forward is to reinforce the preventive aspect of our internal disciplinary systems thru early detection and active counter-intelligence to identify red flags and deny further deviancy,” Acorda said.

The PNP chief said that their Internal Affairs Service (IAS), headed by Inspector General Alfegar M. Triambulo, and the PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG), led by P/Brigadier Gen. Warren F. De Leon, are leading the way in this endeavor.

He also said that this year, a total of 43,909 Police Commissioned Officers (PCOs) and Police Non-Commissioned Officers (PNCOs) were promoted to the next higher rank in the regular promotion cycle in recognition of their qualifications, performance and merit.

Acorda said another 607 Line Officers and Technical Service Officers are also set to join the PNP Officers Corps.

“By these human resource actions of promotion and lateral entry appointment, we are recognizing the good performance shown by this personnel and at the same time professionalizing the service by appointing more responsible and qualified personnel and officers to crucial frontline service positions,” he said.