‘Great number’ of dismissed cops turn to organized crime — DILG chief

MANILA, Philippines – Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla has admitted that a ‘great number’ of former police officers who were dismissed from the force eventually involve themselves in organized crime.

Remulla made the revelation on Thursday, during the Senate finance subcommittee hearing on the proposed 2027 budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and its attached agencies, which includes the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“We made a study of the 8,000 dismissed PNP police persons ages 55 and below. A great number of them end up in organized crime, and that’s where the disparity holds,” Remulla told the panel.

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“If we get sub-quality policemen and we equip them with the proper tools and knowledge of the police and then they are dismissed then they end up on the other side of the law… That’s why we can not be in a rush to fill those positions, because it might end up getting worse,” he continued.

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READ: DILG’s proposed P332.5-B 2027 budget tops 2026 GAA allocation

During the hearing, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian asked how the DILG plans to fill the lacking 49,000 police personnel required to maintain a one cop in 500 civilians ratio.

Remulla admitted that though there are several who apply to become police personnel, not a lot are qualified.

“The bigger problem really is the quality of those who apply… Kahit mag exam sila, yung iba naman gustong-gusto magpulis pero hindi naman qualified. So we have to do a great deal of capacity building before we fill up those positions,” Remulla explained.

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(The bigger problem really is the quality of those who apply… Even though they take the exam, some people really want to be police officers but they are not qualified. So we have to do a great deal of capacity building before we fill up those positions.)

He added: “We only accept 10 percent of applicants. A great deal are not really qualified to be policemen.  Yung iba naririnig lang nila na maganda buhay ng pulis, mataas ang entry salary pero hindi sila qualified.”

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(We only accept 10 percent of applicants. A great deal are not really qualified to be policemen. Others just hear that the police have a good life, a high entry salary, but they are not qualified.)

The interior secretary further detailed the cutthroat process in employing policemen, citing only one percent of those who apply to the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) successfully enter the institution.

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“The PNPA is one of the hardest tertiary institutions to enter. We have 55,000 applicants every year and we only accept around 400,” Remulla pointed out. /mr