PNP orders inventory after case folders of erring cops went missing

FILE PHOTO: Philippine National Police chief General Benjamin Acorda, Jr., during a news briefing at the Department of the Interior and Local Government headquarters in Quezon City in this file photo taken on May 8, 2023. INQUIRER file photo / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has ordered its regional directors to conduct an inventory of its records concerning erring policemen with administrative cases after the files of some National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) personnel went missing.

PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said the reports were alarming and have prompted them to give “special attention” and check the case folders of each regional office.

“We are assuming na meron din sa ibang regions [..] I am encouraging the other regional directors to do the same and those record holders kung sino may hawak o yung mga dinadaanan ng papel dapat managot din,” Acorda said in a press briefing on Monday.

(We assume some case folders are also missing in other regions. I am encouraging the other regional directors to do the same, and those who handled records that went missing will be penalized.)

“I am reiterating to all the regional directors, please make a system, create a system. The NCRPO already created a system before. I don’t know why this is happening again, so maybe it’s just a matter of reviewing and implementing the system,” he added.

Last January 12, NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. revealed that some of his office’s case folders were missing, adding that some personnel were even caught forging an official’s signature to change another policeman’s dismissal order to a mere suspension.

READ: NCRPO probes’ missing’ case folders of erring cops

Based on PNP’s data, 3,932 police personnel received administrative penalties from July 1, 2022, to January 3, this year, equivalent to 1.7 percent of the total PNP population of 232,000.

Of the 3,932, about 985 police officers and personnel were dismissed, 1,701 were suspended, 109 personnel had their privileges withheld, and 134 had their salaries forfeited, among others.