Nartatez orders purge of erring cops

Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. on Sunday ordered a sweeping internal purge of erring personnel following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to restore integrity in the police force.

Nartatez said the President’s call will be treated as an operational order, vowing strict action against corrupt officers. “The President’s message is a clear marching order. It is a call for a total internal cleansing. We take this as a mandate to strengthen integrity at all levels—mula recruit hanggang senior officers. We will be unforgiving against the scalawags who tarnish the badge,” he said.

The directive came after Marcos urged graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy “Silang Paglaom” Class of 2026 to uphold discipline and help rid the organization of corruption during their commencement exercises.

Nartatez said erring personnel will face removal instead of reassignment, as part of a zero-tolerance policy on misconduct. “Our commitment is to ensure zero tolerance for any misconduct. We will not just reshuffle the erring cops, we will remove them,” he said, adding that the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group will be strengthened.

The PNP will also expand ethics training, conduct regular and random lifestyle checks, and align recruitment, training, and promotion systems with integrity standards to prevent future misconduct.

“I want to send a message to our graduates: Your loyalty is to the Constitution and the people. Sa mga naliligaw ng landas, we will find you, and we will weed you out. We want a PNP that the public can truly trust without hesitation,” Nartatez said.