PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte announced on Wednesday, August 8, that he would give the Philippine National Police (PNP) P25 million a month for the medicines and hospitalization expenses of police personnel.

In response, PNP chief Oscar Albayalde thanked the President for the fund.

“I also take this opportunity today to extend the PNP's gratitude to the president for his recent pledge extending a P25 million monthly support to the PNP's reimbursement of hospitalization expenses program which will indeed go a long way in helping ease the financial burden on the shoulders of our police personnel who undergo medical treatment or are hospitalized,” Albayalde said during 117th Police Service Anniversary ceremony held in Camp Crame.

“Napakalaking tulong po ito sa ating mga pulis. Maraming salamat po, Mister President,” he added.

(This is a big help to our policemen. Thank you very much, Mr. President.)

Details on where the funds would be sourced and the mechanics to avail of the fund have yet to be disclosed.

The P25-million medical fund is the latest monetary benefit that the police will receive under the Duterte administration.

In January, Duterte approved the 100 percent salary increase for policemen.

Meantime, Albayalde vowed to give back to the government through its “relentless and recalibrated” war against illegal drugs as well as against scalawags in order to help the administration “achieve an environment where our countrymen can walk the streets safely and go about their daily lives without fear and anxiety in their hearts.”

“These past 2 years, our present administration under our beloved President Rodrigo Duterte saw the PNP fight crimes and illegal drug menace relentlessly like never before, producing results unprecedented in police service history and we are proud to declare that crime incidents have since been on a downtrend,” he said.

“We saw a vigorous cleansing of our ranks as we sought to prove to our countrymen that we are determined to giving them a police force composed of truly honest, professional and responsible public servants and we endeavor to strengthen our public engagement and recognition of the importance and indispensability of community support as our most potent weapon against the evil elements of society,” he added.

Albayalde said from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018, the total crime volume has dropped by 20.4 percent.

He said the PNP also recorded a 46.95 percent decrease in index crimes such as murder, homicide and robbery and theft with crimes against persons lower by 30.42 percent and crimes against property declining by 56.16 percent.

He said all these are attributed to the government’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs.

Albayalde said aside from the neutralization of drug suspects, the PNP is also monitoring more than 1.2 million drug surrenderers to make sure that they have truly mended their ways.

He said the monitoring and intelligence gathering against big druglords are also ongoing.

Albayalde also said that through the intensified internal cleansing, 1,828 police personnel have been dismissed from the service from July 2016 to June 2018.

He said a total of 3,589 were suspended, 362 were demoted, 403 were reprimanded, 147 were penalized with forfeiture of salary, 43 were stripped of privileges and 29 were restricted to quarters.

Albayalde said a total of 498 police personnel were investigated for drug-related cases, including 266 who were found positive for illegal drugs use and 232 who were linked to illegal drug activities.

Of these, 261 police and civilian personnel who tested positive for drug use and 92 who were involved in illegal drug activities were all dismissed from the service. The rest were suspended, demoted, reprimanded or exonerated.

“Let me assure our countrymen that Oplans Double Barrel and Tokhang are stronger than ever and further bolstered by the implementation of the PNP enhanced managing police operations strategy against crime and lawlessness,” said Albayalde.

“We strongly support the president's relentless and chilling war with our surgical and chilling campaign against illegal drugs and crime. We have also been relentless in our cleansing in our ranks of misfits and scalawags, rogue cops who are into illegal drugs and who use their post to commit wrongdoings,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)