PNP denies drug war cash reward for cops

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday maintained there is no cash reward system for police officers who have killed suspects in anti-drug operations.

“There is no policy for giving cash rewards to policemen who kill drug suspects,” said Supt. Vemily Madrid, PNP deputy spokesperson.

Madrid was reacting to the latest survey of Social Weather Stations (SWS) which found that 65 percent of Filipinos believe it is wrong for policemen to receive cash incentives for killing suspected drug pushers or users.

Only 15 percent of the respondents agreed with the cash reward system while 20 percent were undecided.

Madrid found it illogical for police operatives to receive prize money as it is not the PNP’s policy to intentionally kill suspected drug offenders.

“There is no order to kill drug suspects so how much more giving cash rewards to police officers who were able to kill drug suspects,” said Madrid.

He said the police respect the result of the SWS survey despite its adverse findings.

A total of 3,850 drug suspects were killed in police operations from July 1, 2016 to Sept. 15 this year.

President Duterte had pulled out the PNP from the war on drugs and designated the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency as the agency to conduct the government’s war on illegal drugs following allegations of irregularities in police operations.