Albayalde to cops: No texting, sleeping on duty

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde yesterday vowed to relieve police officials whose men are caught texting and sleeping while on duty.

Albayalde issued the warning amid reports that policemen continued to ignore his directive to refrain from texting and sleeping on the job.

He said he would sack police community precinct commanders, chiefs of police and regional directors for their failure to discipline their subordinates.

“I have talked to the police officials several times, but it seems that they are not towing the line. So it’s time for me to act decisively and there would be no more warnings,” Albayalde said.

“When policemen are not following orders from their superiors, it means that they are not afraid of them. That’s why I would relieve and replace them with officials who are disciplinarians,” he added.

Albayalde had conducted surprise inspections of police precincts and stations and caught policemen either sleeping or drinking liquor while on duty when he was still Metro Manila police chief.

Policemen bashed Albayalde on Facebook for berating them in front of members of the media for not doing their job.

Albayalde asked the public to report to him police officers violating the directive so he could impose sanctions against them.