Policemen inspect the body of a man, with tape wrapped around his head and feet, who police said was a victim of drug related vigilante execution in Manila, Wednesday. Ezra Acayan, Reuters

Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald dela Rosa insisted that the police organization does not have the money to pay cops the supposed P8,000 to P15,000 they allegedly get for every drug suspect they kill.

In its investigation, "If you are poor you are killed: Extrajudicial Executions in the Philippines' War on Drugs," Amnesty International cited an anti-narcotics officer who said that police units receive money for killing alleged drug offenders. The source added, the incentive is "paid in cash, secretly, by headquarters."

"Ewan ko kung sinong nagbabayad. Ako, wala akong perang pambayad kung totoo man yan. Hindi po binabayaran yang mga pulis na yan...Ako, ang PNP po, walang funding para sa ganung babayaran. Babayaran yung pulis na nakapatay? Bakit mo babayaran?" Dela Rosa told reporters on Wednesday.

(I don't know who is paying. Me, I don't have money to pay for that if that were true. Those cops are not paid...For me, the PNP has no funding to pay for that. You'll pay the cop for killing? Why would you pay him?)

He also dared those who are behind the claim to come out in the open and file charges before the appropriate bodies.

"Mahirap kasi 'yang nagsasabi lang. Ilabas nila yang tao na yan in the open," he said.

(That's difficult, when people just say it. They should bring that person out in the open.)

"For all you know, paninira na naman yan sa administrasyong Duterte...File a complaint. Ilabas nila yang tao na yan at dalhin sa Ombudsman para magkaliwanagan na tayo," he said.

(For all you know, that was just to discredit the Duterte administration. File a complaint. They should bring out that person and bring him to the Ombudsman so we can clear this up.)

The police force had been at the forefront of President Rodrido Duterte's war on drugs since he won last year's presidential elections.

However, after a series of scandals emerged over the past month wherein police were caught committing murder, kidnapping, extortion and robbery, the President this week ordered them to stop all activities related to the drug war.

He described the police force as "corrupt to the core" and vowed to cleanse it, while also vowing the drug war would continue until the last day of his term, in 2022.

He said the police would return to the drug war after he reorganized the force and, in the meantime, the military would become more involved.