MANILA, Philippines -- The leadership of the Philippine National Police (PNP) is seeking to provide better police services and improve its overall organization for 2009, the agency’s top officials said.

This, after the national police was besieged by controversy last year, including the scandal involving retired comptroller Eliseo dela Paz, who was intercepted by Russian authorities carrying P6.9 million worth of undeclared euros, and the Parañaque shootout where 16 people, including a child, were killed.

Until now, Russian authorities have yet to return the money to the PNP.

PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa said on Friday that he would be pushing for the full implementation of the Integrated Transformation Program (ITP), which would strive to fix “organizational dysfunctions” within the PNP.

As defined, the ITP would be “our roadmap for long-term and lasting reforms in the PNP. The [ITP] is now being implemented in order to resolve organizational dysfunctions and improve the quality of police services; strengthen law enforcement capabilities, and; enhance the welfare and benefits of our personnel and dependents,” according to the PNP official website.

National Capital Region police office (NCRPO) Director Leopoldo Bataoil stressed the need for the proper implementation of the ITP.

“It is in the implementation of this transformation program that matters most. Kung hindi maintindihan, baka maulit yung hindi dapat mangyari na makadungis sa magandang imahe ng PNP [If this won’t be understood, then there might be a repeat of the incident that has besmirched the image of the PNP],” he said, referring to the Parañaque shootout.

Apart from the ITP, Verzosa said he was also looking at extending the availability of police services to areas that lacked adequate security.

On Dec. 8, 2008, Verzosa led the launching of the police station in the remote town of Tineg in Abra. Verzosa said that for this year, he was planning to set up similar police stations in the remote towns in Kalinga and Apayao.

“We will be advancing governance in different areas across the country. We will be establishing more police services and reaching out to far-flung areas,” Verzosa said.

The PNP is also pushing for the establishment of tourist police in key tourism areas, particularly in Bohol and La Union, Verzosa said.

For Bataoil, he will be improving the NCRPO’s peace and order program, including better intelligence operations, police visibility, investigation, and police-community relationships.

He emphasized the need for a good relationship between the police and the community because this would help in the police’s anti-criminality campaign.

Despite controversies surrounding the PNP, Bataoil pointed out that total crime volume in 2008 dropped by 5.36 percent compared to 2007.

Verzosa expressed hope that this downtrend would continue until the end of 2009.