DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 June) – A police officer detailed at the Provincial Crime Laboratory Office in Davao del Norte was ordered relieved after testing positive for illegal drug use in random drug test conducted Thursday last week.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 11 spokesperson Chief Insp. Milgrace Driz said on Tuesday that the relieved officer was PO2 Felixberto de Castro, the only one who tested positive out of 12 personnel who underwent drug test as part of the “internal cleansing aimed to protect the good police officers from the erring ones.”
She said PRO 11 director Chief Supt. Manuel R. Gaerlan ordered for De Castro’s relief, placed him immediately under custody of Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit for investigation, and expedited the summary dismissal proceedings against him.
She said De Castro had been stripped of his police badge, identification, and firearms.
Driz assured that the PRO 11 strictly implements its mandate in adherence to Philippine National Police’s implementation of Memorandum Circular No. 2017-013 or the PNP Internal Cleansing Strategy dated February 21, 2017 in order to instill discipline among the police forces.
Under the PNP Memorandum Circular No. 2017-13 or the PNP Internal Cleansing Strategy dated February 21, 2017, the administrative relief of the Unit Commander and their reassignment to appropriate Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (PHAU) will be undertaken if three personnel of a particular unit were found positive in drug test, caught by other units for involvement in heinous and high profile crimes, or failure to take immediate action on reports of involvement in illegal activities of their personnel that are brought to their attention.
According to a report released by PRO 11, the latter had filed 109 administrative cases, 67 of which had already been resolved while the remaining are undergoing summary hearing proceedings from January 1 to June 26, 2018.
It said there were eight officers already dismissed from service, one demoted, 10 suspended, and three reprimanded. It added there were also 22 cases dismissed and 41 cases absolved.
“Despite these numbers, there are still good cops who excel in their field,” Driz noted. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)