MANILA, Philippines -- “Unscrupulous policemen,” extortion and other illegal activities have made National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) the least popular regional police office, its newly-installed chief, Director Jefferson Soriano, said Monday.

Soriano said the NCRPO’s unpopularity was contained in data provided by non-government organizations.

While acknowledging that abuses by NCRPO policemen have “tainted the name” of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and contributed to the office’s low popularity, Soriano also said this was “understandable because we have more than 15,000” personnel in Metro Manila.

But he vowed to push for an “internal discipline” program among the NCRPO personnel.

“We will also concentrate on the internal leadership of our men. We have received so many complaints against our personnel, so we will work on that,” he said.

Soriano replaced Director Geary Barias, who has been named chief of the PNP Directorial Staff.

In his speech, Soriano said he will initiate a two-year program to transform the image of the NCRPO and restore people’s trust in the metropolitan police force.

PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa also vowed to initiate a reform program to promote “core values” such as discipline and integrity and to rid the service of “kotong [mulcting] cops” through “restructuring and reducing the incidents through the development of values.”

Verzosa also said erring policemen will be made to undergo seminars. Regional police offices will build classrooms for this purpose.

“We will tackle the roots of these malpractices,” he said.