The Department of the Interior and Local Government will soon implement a lottery system that it said will remove patronage in how personnel of the Philippine National Police are assigned.
According to DILG Secretary Manuel Roxas II, the lottery system “will give policemen a chance to prove their worth and allow them to start their career cleanly.”
Under the current system, police chiefs get to pick police officers assigned to their areas. Roxas said this has led to bribery and patronage in the police force. “A Police Officer 1 is just starting his career and he’ll already have to pay bribes and salute a patron,” he said in Filipino.
The announcement of the new system came with the distribution of more than 74,000 service pistols to members of the PNP. The PNP also plans to buy 2,500 new police vehicles and 40,000 hand-held radios.
It will also hire 15,000 civilian employees for administrative work to free police officers for deployment in the field.
