Close to 600 “third level” Philippine National Police (PNP) officials out of the total 956 senior officers have tendered their resignation as of Monday, Jan. 9, amid a radical internal cleansing program to purge the organization of high-ranking cops suspected to be involved in various illegal activities.

PNP Chief, Police Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., who is among those who have submitted courtesy resignation, said others have also signified their commitment to adhere to the challenge of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos.

“We were able to account more or less 500 to close to 600 as reported by the different units from the regions,” Azurin said in an interview at Camp Crame in Quezon City when asked for an update on the matter.

“If they are truly innocent, I think there is no reason for them to hide,” he added. “Everyone is being challenged to submit their courtesy resignations. It's voluntary in nature and this is an individual test of the individual character.”

Last week, Abalos appealed to third level officials of the PNP to resign from their post so he could rid the organization of cops with alleged link to illegal drug activities and other crimes.

These officers were consisted of Azurin as the lone four-star general; eight lieutenant generals (three-star), 21 major generals (two-star), 114 brigadier generals (one-star), and 812 police colonels.

Once the resignation letters are consolidated, Azurin said the names of the officers will be submitted to a five-member committee to be headed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. which will evaluate and assess the cops’ records to either clear them or conduct a further review.

Aside from Marcos, former PNP officer and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong is eyed as a member of the evaluation committee. Other members of the panel have yet to be named.

Meanwhile, Azurin asked the committee to be fair and objective in the conduct of their assessment since the officers are putting their career and names on the line by submitting themselves to the challenge.

“We really demand the fairness as well as the professionalism of the five-man committee that will be formulated. We are talking here of the career of senior officers of the PNP who worked very hard in the last 30 years or more of their service that's why they also need a fair, balanced . Politics should not be involved,” he emphasized.

The PNP Chief was also quick to address allegations that the initiative by the DILG might result to a demoralization of the troops.

“We are not bringing down the house. There is an ongoing investigation on other ranking officers suspectedly involved in the illegal drug trade and we want the third level officers to be cleared because sooner or later they will be occupying key positions in the PNP,” Azurin explained.

“They will go up as generals, some of them are generals already and their ranks will further go up. We want the third level officers to be in a clean slate after this exercise,” he added.