PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. yesterday said the five-man advisory group will now meet twice a week to hasten the vetting process of police generals and colonels who had submitted courtesy resignations.
“We will be meeting twice a week, Wednesday and Thursday. That is our agreement to hasten the evaluation and assessment of our third level officers,” Azurin told reports at Camp Crame.
The advisory group, which includes Azurin, has so far only met twice — last February 13 and 24.
The group processed 118 courtesy resignations last February 24.
The other members of the group are former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice Melchor Sadang, retired police general and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, and retired police general Isagani Nerez, an undersecretary for police affairs at the Office of Presidential Adviser on Military Affairs.
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. urged all police generals and colonels to submit their courtesy resignations last January 4 to fast-track the removal of PNP officers linked to illegal drugs. They were given until last January 31 to submit their resignations.
“The advisory group agreed to meet twice a week while ensuring that objectivity, fairness and due diligence will be observed throughout the screening process,” said Azurin, adding the group needs to evaluate some 800 more courtesy resignations.
“The five-man advisory group, during the second meeting, had already reviewed 118 senior officers while more than 800 remaining are slated to be evaluated in the coming meetings,” said Azurin.
Azurin said the 118 officers are commanders, team leaders and staff officers at various PNP units.
Asked if the 118 were cleared of any links to illegal drugs, Azurin said: “Maybe, I will answer that later but they were already processed.
“As of now, we were able to evaluate at least 118 senior officers. So we are finalizing our recommendation so we can forward it to NAPOLCOM (National Police Commission) for their review and evaluation,” he said.
