Malacanang on Sunday said the Philippine National Police is committed to cleanse its ranks of scalawags and maintain the integrity of the organization.

This was after the official relief of the more than 1,000 policemen from Caloocan City where series of killings of teenagers took place in the past months.

"The official relief of the Caloocan City Police Station personnel over the weekend and their retraining, which will start tomorrow, demonstrate the firm commitment of the Philippine National Police to continuously cleanse its ranks of misfits and scalawags and maintain the integrity of the organization," Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

He said there will be "relentless" effort from the PNP leadership to instill discipline and promote character-building to the police personnel and units.

Abella also urged the public to rally behind the authorities as they enforce the law and carry out their operations within legal process.

Last Friday, National Capital Region Police Office Director Oscar Albayalde deployed around 900 members of the Regional Public Safety Battalion in Caloocan to replace the 1,143 relieved cops who are set to start retraining on Monday in Taguig City. Ella Dionisio/DMS