PNP to probe ‘quota system’ among cops, their superiors

Camp Crame. Ryan Leagogo/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Philippine National Police (PNP) had received a tip about a “quota system” that required low-ranking policemen to raise money from illegal activities to be passed on to their superiors so they could retain their posts.

PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac said the allegation of an anonymous police official was “a serious accusation that needs to be look into.”

“At the same time media reports of the quota system came out, there was an instruction to establish the validity and veracity of the anonymous police officer’s allegation,” Sindac said.

The PNP spokesman issued the statement in reaction to media reports of a weekly payoff system forcing lower-ranking policemen to resort to unlawful means to raise money for their superiors, who in turn would forward the money to their higher-ups so they could keep their jobs.

The alleged payoff system surfaced after several Quezon City policemen were tagged in a robbery and abduction incident on Sept. 1 along Edsa, during which the two kidnap victims claimed they lost more than P2 million.

The weekly payoff supposedly differs in each police district and post, ranging from P3,000 to P7,000 a week. Bagmen or policemen are tasked to oversee the collection and distribution of the payoffs.

“We will take this claim at face value. The police officer who revealed this supposed quota system was not named. We will conduct an investigation, counterintelligence to the veracity and validity given by an anonymous source,” the official said.