MANILA – The police Highway Patrol Group said it does not hire out its officers as road escorts after a social media influencer claimed her husband had hired a motorcycle cop to get her past traffic.

The HPG said it “will not tolerate” its personnel acting as private traffic escorts for pay, which is “strictly against our existing protocols and regulations” but also said it is still verifying whether any of its cops actually have.

The claim was made on a content creator's Instagram Story that has since expired but not before other users took screenshots of the post and commented on the supposed special treatment.

Some social media users also speculated that the user may have gotten the motorcycle escort through a politician, some of whom travel in convoys and with police escorts.  

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Apart from the security escorts, numbered protocol plates for some officials and a general deference by uniformed personnel to people in power have accorded some politicians special treatment on the road.

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“We will file the necessary cybercrime-related offenses [against] those individuals who will post any malicious statement that will malign/tarnish the image of the HPG and the possible criminal and administrative charges for our personnel,” the Highway Patrol Group, which is mandated to enforce road safety and traffic laws, said.

Although it is against regulations, police officers — including from the HPG — have been caught moonlighting and acting as unauthorized security escorts.

Motorcycle and traffic enforcement personnel have also figured in kidnapping schemes, where foreign nationals have been flagged down and then abducted.

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