President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday offered a bounty of two million pesos (S$58,700) for information leading to the arrest of policemen coddling drug kingpins and running their own narcotics scams.

"I am placing on their heads two million pesos," Mr Duterte said in a speech during ceremonies to mark National Heroes Day in Manila.

He also urged policemen to "squeal on your friends".

"You will have two million pesos, and a new gun," said Mr Duterte.

Crooked cops here have come to be known as "ninjas", for their purported preference to move around on Kawasaki Ninja motorcycles.

Mr Duterte has been coming down as hard on corrupt policemen as he has been on drug traffickers.

He publicly accused five police generals last month of involvement in the drugs trade, saying they were protecting drug syndicates and contributing to a "deterioration of law and order".

Three of the generals were retired, including one mayor, while the two serving officers were relieved of their duties.

Then early this month, he identified about 160 serving and former town mayors and executives, judges and policemen allegedly linked to the illegal drugs trade. There were 40 policemen on that list.

Nearly 2,000 suspected drug pushers and addicts have been killed by policemen or vigilantes since Mr Duterte launched a ruthless campaign against crime after taking office on June 30.

Raul Dancel