NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Brigadier General Jonnel C. Estomo on Wednesday said he wants Metro Manila policemen-lawyers to be assigned to their headquarters to help them achieve their target “zero backlog” in all NCRPO administrative cases as he announced the dismissal of 176 erring Metro Manila policemen from the police force since the year started.

In line with the directive of the Philippine National Police Chief General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. to put priority on immediately resolving all administrative cases involving uniformed police and non-uniformed personnel, the NCRPO chief ordered the reassignment of all policemen-lawyers in the metropolitan police force to the NCRPO Discipline, Law and Order Division (DLOD).

The presence of additional PNP lawyers in the NCRPO disciplinary unit based in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City will help de-clog the administrative dockets of the region, said Estomo.

“This is in line with the ‘Internal Cleansing Program’ being implemented by the PNP to fight corruption within the PNP system and eliminate all erring cops and scalawags,” the official said.

Citing NCRPO, Estomo said that there were a total of 477 new administrative cases that were submitted and documented by the NCRPO-DLOD from January to date. Of the total, 265 have been resolved already while 212 are still under evaluation.

Out of 265 resolved cases, 209 were categorized as grave offenses which include dishonesty, gross neglect of duty, grave misconduct, conviction of a crime, and falsification of official documents.

Another 30 were considered less grave offenses such as simple neglect of duty, simple misconduct, gross discourtesy in the course of official duties, insubordination, and habitual drunkenness. On the other hand, there were 26 recorded other simple offenses, he said.

Estomo said that since the year started, a total of 176 NCRPO personnel have been dismissed from the service, 29 were demoted, 476 were suspended, 141 faced forfeiture of salary, and 76 were reprimanded.

Apart from dismissal from the service, policemen who were accused with less serious charges were meted with several penalties, he explained.

“With our commitment to raising the level of discipline, competence, and effectiveness of our personnel, we will intensify our efforts to cleanse the ranks within the organization,” he assured the public.

“The road to internal cleansing might be long but with the assistance and expertise of all these lawyers, the internal cleansing effort of the NCRPO will not be in vain,” he added.

The official also sent 17 members of the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 5 to a 45-day reformatory training program following the arrest of their three colleagues for robbery-extortion last week.

NCRPO Acting Regional Chief of Staff, Col. Lex Ephraim C. Gurat led the ceremonies marking the start of the “Focused Reformation/Reorientation and Moral Enhancement for Police Officers in Line with Internal Cleansing Efforts” or FORME POLICE in Camp Bagong Diwa.

Azurin earlier cited the need to strictly enforce discipline in the force following the case of the 17 MPD personnel who were relieved from their posts and reassigned to the MPD District Personnel Holding and Accounting Section following the arrest of their three colleagues in an entrapment operation conducted by agents of the PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) headed by Brig. Gen. Warren F. de Leon.

Azurin said that their internal cleansing program which is a combination of preventive, punitive, and restorative approaches comes vis-à-vis with their unrelenting anti-criminality, anti-drug, and counter-terror drivers.

“The recent operations launched by the PNP-IMEG against our own personnel who continue to defy rules and resist reform, particularly in Taguig and Manila, is just a preview of more efforts forthcoming in the PNP internal reform program as further reinforced by the ‘Malasakit, Kaayusan at Kapayapaan tungo Kaunlaran’ or M+K+K=K strategic framework thru the Kasimbayanan synergy of police, church, and community,” the PNP chief said.

Estomo said it is his standing policy to retrain policemen who are direct colleagues of erring cops arrested in operations made in line with the PNP’s stepped-up internal cleansing program.

“The fault of one member is the fault of other members of a unit or office because they failed to whisper good advice and care for the welfare of their colleagues,” the NCRPO chief pointed out.

“You must be your brother’s keeper,” he said as he emphasized that members of the NCRPO must be extraordinary role models for all citizens, their colleagues included, and should be worthy of emulation by others.

Estomo said that the involved cops are also being subjected to an exhaustive investigation while undergoing retraining which aims to discipline them and strengthen their ethics while evaluating their commitment to do their sworn duties. Teach police officers to their sworn duties,” he said.

The official said he also wants his officers to practice “On-the-Spot Correction” in which senior commissioned or non-commissioned police officers must immediately correct minor offenses of their subordinates as soon as they observe such infractions.