MANILA, Philippines – If a city or municipal police chief has at least one cop under him arrested or charged because of drugs, he needs to step down.

This is one of the new drug war rules signed by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa last Friday, January 19.

According to the new drug war guidelines, the PNP will enforce a “one strike policy” for police leaders, sacking them if cops under them are accused of involvement in illegal drugs:

• Chiefs of police (COPs) – “if a PNP member under his/her jurisdiction is arrested and charged for his/her involvement in illegal drugs”
• Provincial directors (PDs) – “when two of his/her COPs are relieved due to drug issues”
• Regional directors (RDs) – “when two of his PDs/city directors are relieved due to drug-related issues”

The stringent rules apply the doctrine of command responsibility which promotes the idea that higher-ups may be held liable for the mistakes – be it criminal or administrative – of his or her subordinates.  It’s a mistake by omission or neglect of duty in supervising lower-ranking personnel.

The new rules are also in line with the PNP’s internal cleansing efforts to weed out erring cops.

Dela Rosa himself admitted that scalawag cops continue to be part of the PNP, and he blamed them for the two times that the police were pulled out of President Rodrigo Duterte’s unrelenting drug war. (READ: PNP suspends Oplan Double Barrel, again)

They were ordered to return to the anti-drug campaign in December 2017, with a sarcastic Duterte saying that the death toll would probably go up again. – Rappler.com