THE crackdown against rogues in uniform in Metro Manila will be unrelenting as there is no room for misfits and scalawags in the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), NCRPO director Major General Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr. assured the public.

The official said that since he took over as NCRPO chief in June 2023, he has ordered the dismissal of 480 personnel while suspending, demoting or forfeiting the pay and allowances of over 700 others who were found to have committed various administrative offenses.

The NCRPO chief said he is making sure that, as Philippine National Police chief General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil had clearly stated, there will be ‘no ifs and buts’ when members of the force transgress the law and thus, they must suffer the consequence.

Nartatez said that of the 480 NCRPO men whom he fired from the police force over the past 10 months, 12 were found to be guilty for involvement in illegal drug activities while many had gone AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave).

He explained that in line with their all-out effort to continuously account for their men, they have discovered numerous AWOL NCRPO personnel.

Some of them were found to have gone abroad and did not return to perform their duties for at least 30 days to over 600 days.

“We are continuously accounting for our personnel. We have been accounting for them ever since the beginning,” Maj. Gen. Nartatez said even as he added that the number of NCRPO personnel to be fired, dismissed, demoted or meted out other disciplinary sanctions may still go up in the days to come as they continue investigating their case folders.

He particularly referred to the case folders safely stored in two shipping containers in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City.

“We are checking on the cases one -by-one. We are trying to resolve them and come up with a resolution, ranging from dismissal and so on.

That is why our over 400 cases may still increase,” he explained.

Last January, the PNP ordered all police regional directors to look into the possibility that some dismissed policemen’s documents are missing or they may have been helped by their colleagues to get reinstatement orders.

Nartatez was also commended in the same month for his strict internal disciplinary program which led in the discovery of the ‘missing case folders’ anomaly.

Officials have maintained that full digitization of case folders of members of the police force facing criminal and administrative cases, specifically those involving grave misconduct.

The NCRPO chief said he ordered an investigation into the ‘missing case folders’ of some Metro Manila police personnel whose administrative cases previously resolved by their disciplinary bodies were not implemented.

“Some cases were also reversed or dismissed simply because of lapses in procedure,” he said. He added under him, the NCRPO registered a 178- percent increase in case resolution efficiency last year.

The PNP also directed the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management to protect their database against policemen who have been dismissed from the service after being found guilty of grave misconduct.

However, the PNP has also maintained that police officers and men who have been dismissed from the service due to serious offenses are given ‘due process’ to prevent them from using the same thing in seeking re-entry into the force.

Nartatez said that from July to December 2023, the NCRPO resolved 432 administrative cases of which 224, or 52 percent, led to the dismissal of the accused policemen.

Among those ordered dismissed were the 10 personnel of the Southern Police District who were found involved in a raid on a condominium in Parañaque City on September 16, 2023.

Of the 10, one is a lieutenant colonel, two are majors and one is a captain. The rest are Police Non-Commissioned Officers.

Nartatez also ordered the demotion of seven other SPD men found involved in the raid and suspended 17 others for months.

Two senior officers implicated in the anomaly were ordered subjected to disciplinary proceedings upon issuance of a presidential clearance.

The accused were charged for robbery, ‘planting’ of evidence, abuse in the service of search warrant, violation of domicile, perjury, falsification of public documents, obstruction of justice and violation of Police Operational Procedures and other directives.