PNP chief says police not falling short of arrest targets

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde said Monday that the police are not falling short of arrest targets, amid the report of the Commission on Audit (COA) that the PNP missed its 2018 goals.

In a press briefing at Camp Crame, Albayalde said COA was referring to the top 10 most wanted persons arrested in 2018, and not the arrest of all wanted persons which include ordinary suspects.

“I think kailangan sabihin sa COA ‘yan para maintindihan nila. Kase ang lumalabas, we are falling short on the arrest of wanted persons (I think we should explain to COA because it appears that we are falling short of targets for the arrest of wanted persons). We did not fall short on the arrest of wanted persons,” he said.

COA earlier reported that the PNP only managed to arrest 19.37 percent of the most wanted persons, despite its target of 51.57 percent and even as its personnel now enjoys nearly double their previous salaries.

READ: COA: PNP gets pay hike despite missed targets

While the PNP did not hit its target number of arrests on most wanted persons, Albayalde said the PNP had hit triple of its target on arrest of ordinary wanted persons.

He said the number of arrests of persons with a bounty on their heads increased from 35 in 2017 to 48 in 2018.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Omega Jireh Fidel, an official of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, said they will review their parameters on the target number of arrests of most wanted persons following the COA report.

Albayalde explained that under the present system, each police station is required to submit a list of the top 10 most wanted persons in their locality.

This list will then be forwarded to provincial police offices, which will have its own 10 most wanted persons. This consolidated list will be forwarded to police regional offices, which will ultimately have its own list of 10 most wanted persons in the whole region.

Fidel said this system has a “downside” as some police stations do not have their own list of top 10 most wanted persons but are still included in the formula. (Editor: Eden Estopace)