ZAMBOANGA CITY (UPDATE) – Most of the more than 300 alleged rogue policemen did not show up for their deployment to Basilan.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier gave a mouthful to the so-called scalawag cops and ordered their deployment to the south, as the Philippine National Police (PNP) seeks to cleanse its ranks in the wake of the killing of a Korean businessman allegedly by rogue cops.

Only 53 out of the 310 alleged rogue policemen arrived in Zamboanga City on Tuesday morning on board the C130 plane of Philippine Navy.

Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, regional director of the PNP in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said they would mark the other policemen who failed to show up for their Basilan deployment as AWOL, and administrative cases will be filed against them.

Sindac said, they were expecting 310 policemen to be deployed to Basilan as ordered by the president, but only 53 showed up for the final deployment on Monday night.

A light craft vessel of the Navy was used to ferry the policemen to Basilan.

Sindac said, it would be the provincial director of Basilan and local officials who would decide the final deployment of the 53 policemen.

Basilan Governor Jim Salimman welcomed the arrival of additional policemen in their province.

He said, the province badly needs the additional policemen for their far-flung towns, such as in Tuburan and Al-Barka.

Salimman said, the policemen can also help in the government’s anti-terrorism campaign.

However, some of the policemen questioned their deployment to the province where bandits and terrorists operate.

• Cops lament Basilan deployment, say rogue colleagues not in list

One of them is SPO3 Emer Galiboso, who was teary-eyed when asked about his deployment to Basilan.

Galiboso said, he was surprised when he learned that his name was included in the final list of policemen to be deployed to Basilan.

He said, he was not part of the first list. Those on the list were personally lambasted by Duterte for their alleged involvement in different illegal activities.

Another policeman, Senior Inspector Joseph Gordovez, was reprimanded by National Capital Region Police Office chief Oscar Albayalde after he spoke up about his complaint over his inclusion on the list to the media.

But the other cops others were tight-lipped when asked to comment on their deployment to Basilan.