Duterte gave P6.8-M cash rewards to cops in 2016

In his first six months in office, President Rodrigo Duterte already showed his support and appreciation to the members of the Philippine National Police by giving them cash rewards.

The 2016 Commission on Audit (COA) annual audit report on the Office of the President shows that the “Awards/Rewards and Prizes” of the OP had shot up 6,133.64 percent.

From P110,000 spent in 2015, it ballooned to P6.857 million the following year.

COA noted that the increase was due to “awards given to PNP personnel due to meritorious and invaluable services rendered during the second semester of CY 2016.”

P6.857 Million for fun run, policemen

A breakdown of the Php 6.857 million OP funds spent on awards shows that Php 107,000 went to prizes for a fun run event of the OP last March 2016 during the term of former president Noynoy Aquino.

Thirty-eight fun run participants received prizes ranging from P1,000 to P5,000.

The rest, Php 6,750,000, was given as cash awards to PNP personnel by then newly-elected President Duterte.

COA data showed that 15 policemen got P250,000 each while 15 received Php 200,000 each.

Acts of heroism and meritorious services

From the list, five policemen received Php1.05 million as “Reward for act of heroism displayed.” Four got P200,000 while one got P250,000.

P5.7 million was divided among 25 policemen as “Reward for meritorious and invaluable services rendered”. Fourteen of them received P250,000 each while 11 got P200,000 each.

The PNP awardees were from different ranks ranging from Police Officer 2 to Police Chief Inspector. One-third of them were Police Chief Inspectors.  

Awards for campaign against illegal drugs and terrorism

GMA News Research looked into the awards received in 2016 by the policemen in the list; most of them were recognized in connection to the government campaign against illegal drugs.

All of the 30 policemen were based in units in Mindanao during the time of the award.

Six policemen received recognition for success in implementation of search warrants against individuals involved in illegal drugs, as well as those suspected of supporting terror groups.

Four policemen were recognized for successful buy-bust operations which, according to news reports, resulted in the capture and death of various drug personalities.

Six policemen were given meritorious medals as chief of their respective police stations – all from Region 12. The press releases issued for the awarding ceremonies said these units were ranked top among police stations in their respective cities or provinces in relation to Project Double Barrel.

Nine policemen accepted awards on behalf of their units, mostly as recognition for their units’ anti-illegal drugs campaign performance.

GMA News has tried to get a comment from PNP on the awards given to them, but has been referred to various PNP offices including the office of the spokesperson, directorate for comptrollership, directorate for logistics and the information office.

As of press time, none of the referred PNP offices has given any comment or reply. —JST, GMA News