PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief Archie Gamboa reiterated on Monday, January 27, the one-strike policy against police commanders who will fail to implement measures to stop illegal activities such as gambling and corruption in their areas of jurisdiction.
“I am serving notice to all police unit commanders that their actions in enforcing the campaign against corruption and crimes against public morals, particularly illegal gambling, shall weigh heavily in the succeeding rounds of individual performance evaluation to determine their competence to continue leading their respective units,” he said in a statement.
“The One-Strike policy will strictly apply to unit commanders who will fail to curb these illegal activities in their areas of responsibility,” he added.
In a press conference, PNP spokesperson Brigadier General Bernard Banac said the order is directed at all the unit commanders. But he clarified that this would not necessarily lead to an officer’s dismissal.
“Well ito naman ay para sa lahat ‘yung binigay na babala ni General Gamboa ay para sa lahat ng mga unit commanders, sa lahat ng mga regional offices na wala dapat humpay ang ating kampanya laban sa illegal gambling at ang nais natin ay lalo pang paigtingin ang kampanya laban sa illegal na sugal,” he said.
He made the statement in response to a query on why Quezon City Police District Director Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo was singled out by Gamboa in a radio interview on Friday.
“We’ll give a deadline to the district director and if he cannot get rid of illegal gambling in Quezon City, we will look for someone else who can,” Gamboa said.
Banac said there were persistent report reaching the office of Gamboa against Montejo but he refused to expound it but he admitted that it was about illegal gambling.
He said that illegal gambling is still persistent in the areas of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Central Luzon and National Capital Region.
Banac said Gamboa’s directive is part of the internal cleansing campaign against illegal gambling and it will be among the top priorities of the PNP chief.
"Asahan natin ang kampanya sa illegal na sugal ay paigtingin like illegal drugs gaya ng utos ng Pangulo, yun po ang nais tahakin ng PNP for the next months,” he said. (SunStar Philippines)