PNP: No cash rewards in antidrug war

The Philippine National Police does not give cash rewards to officers who kill drug suspects, a spokesperson for the organization said on Thursday.

“There is no policy for giving cash rewards to police who kill any drug suspect,” Supt. Vimellee Madrid, deputy spokesperson for the PNP, commented on the finding of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that 65 percent of Filipinos frown on such an incentive in President Duterte’s war on drugs.

“There is no order to kill drug suspects, so how much more the giving of cash rewards to those police officers who were able to kill drug suspects?” Madrid said.

The SWS third quarter survey found that three of five Filipino adults, or 65 percent, disagree with the statement, “It is right for policemen to be given cash rewards for every person they kill who are allegedly using illegal drugs or involved in the illegal drug trade.”

Only 15 percent agreed with the statement.

The survey, which SWS said  was not commissioned and was its own initiative, was conducted from Sept. 23 to 27 through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults nationwide.

“We always respect whatever the result of the survey. It is their [perception],” Madrid said.