FILE PHOTO: Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. on Tuesday said that the Philippine National Police (PNP) aims to submit to the President its final list of police officials’ courtesy resignations in three months’ time.
Abalos said this in an interview with ABS-CBN’s Sakto, reiterating that the PNP has already screened 118 courtesy resignations on Feb. 24.
“The way they are moving right now, ang target natin ay three months, pero kamukha ng balita ko ay twice a week, so sabihin nating 118 on the average, times two, so makaka-200 ka every week, so in a month halos 800 ka na,” Abalos explained.
(The way they are moving right now, our target is three months, but based on their report that they do it twice a week, completing 118 on average, multiply that by two, you can get 200 every week, so in a month that’s almost 800.)
“So hopefully, bago mag three months matapos ito (they will finish this before three months),” he added.
The screening of the courtesy resignations began on Friday, Feb. 24.
There are 12 generals and colonels out of the 955 PNP officers who have not yet submitted their resignations, according to Abalos, five of whom have already retired, with the other six already scheduled to do so.
“So technically isa na lang [ang hindi pa nagsusubmit ng resignation] (only one has not yet submitted their resignation),” said Abalos.
The PNP previously said that a total of 943 high-ranking police officers have already submitted their courtesy resignations with at least 825 yet to be screened.
To recall, the PNP formed a five-man advisory group to do the first layer of review of the submitted courtesy resignations in a bid to purge the police organization of ties to illegal drugs.
After the first screening, the list of resignations will then go through the National Police Commission (Napolcom) before submitting it to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for necessary action.
“Ibibigay ito sa Napolcom para i-review ulit at ito ay hindi na pwedeng dagdagan pa, ‘yun lamang mga pangalan na na-sumite ay titignan ulit, just to make sure na ‘wag magkamali,” said Abalos.
(It will be given to Napolcom to be reviewed again, where names cannot be added anymore, only those names that have been submitted will be looked at again, just to make sure that there is no mistake.)
According to Abalos, the first screening is necessary to ensure a tight process, as it consists not only of the police or military, but also civilian analysts.
He then admitted that the process is tedious, which is why he expressed gratitude to the five-man team, who he said volunteered to help assess the courtesy resignations.
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