2 of 5 ‘narco-generals’ to face administrative raps

MANILA, Philippines – Two of the five police generals named by President Duterte as being involved in the illegal drug trade will face administrative charges before the National Police Commission (Napolcom).

Napolcom vice chairman and executive officer Rogelio Casurao said the police commission found probable cause in filing administrative charges against Director Joel Pagdilao and Chief Supt. Edgardo Tinio.

In a letter to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Casurao said the Napolcom is filing administrative cases of serious neglect of duty, serious irregularity in the performance of duty and conduct unbecoming of a police officer against Pagdilao and Tinio.

Pagdilao was the former chief of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) while Tinio served as director of the Quezon City Police District.

Since the two police generals are considered presidential appointees, Casurao said the Napolcom is seeking presidential clearance through Medialdea to proceed with the summary dismissal proceedings.

“The commission… found probable cause to warrant the filing of a formal charge against the respondent,” Casurao said. “The range will be suspension to dismissal from the service (as) possible penalties to be imposed.”

Casurao said the probable cause was established following the investigation under Napolcom rules in coordination with the Internal Affairs Service of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Pagdilao and Tinio were among the five so-called narco generals named by Duterte as alleged protectors of illegal drug operations in the country.

The three others are former Western Visayas Region director Chief Supt. Bernardo Diaz, retired deputy director general Marcelo Garbo Jr. and retired police general and now Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot.

Johnson Reyes, chief of the Napolcom Inspection Monitoring and Investigation Service Division, said the case against Diaz is still under investigation.

He added the cases of Garbo and Loot are different since they are no longer connected with the PNP.

“General Garbo and Mayor Loot are both retired and we are no longer investigating them because they are outside (our) jurisdiction. They are retired police officers,” he said.

When asked if Pagdilao and Tinio have direct participation in illegal drug operations, Reyes said the cases against them are related to the accusations made by President Duterte.

“Direct participation as a protector, there is none yet. We don’t want to reveal yet the other details about it,” he added.

Tinio, on the other hand, questioned the basis of the administrative charges against him.

Tinio said he managed to secure the conviction of three drug lords when he was Quezon City police chief.

‘Growing horns’

With the exception of the five police generals, there were findings that lower ranking policemen are mostly involved in the drug trade, either as users or peddlers.?In last Monday’s hearing at the Senate, it was revealed that policemen are involved in killing suspected drug offenders or “assets” in the effort to cover their misdeeds.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the PNP should review its recruitment and training procedures after seeing a significant number of its lower ranked or younger personnel involved in the killings of suspected drug pushers in the country.

Lacson, a former PNP chief, said there is something wrong with the recruitment program of the PNP when it has all of these younger policemen involved in the incidents of killings.

“They haven’t been in the service that long and they have already grown horns,” he said.

Chief Supt. Leo Leuterio, acting deputy inspector general of the PNP-IAS, told the Senate committee on justice and human rights yesterday that his office has received reports on a total of 569 police operations involving illegal drugs, as a result of which 581 individuals were killed.

Leuterio said only 23 of these cases have been terminated, meaning they were proven to be legitimate killings, and 220 are pending investigation.

He said there were 81 lawmen with the lowest rank of Police Officer 1 (PO1) involved in the killings, followed by 48 PO3s and 42 PO2s and 62 senior inspectors.

“There must be something wrong with the recruitment program. If not, then basic training. Why is it that those involved are so young?” Lacson remarked.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa told the senators during the hearing that the training of new recruits is not done by the PNP but by the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC).

According to Dela Rosa, the PNP is the only police organization in the world that does not train its own personnel.

He said the PNP can only recommend what it wants from the training program but has no control over the PPSC.

“We strongly recommend that this (training program) be returned to us,” Dela Rosa told the lawmakers.

A total of 756 suspected drug offenders were killed in police operations from July 1 to Aug. 22.

Dela Rosa gave assurance the IAS is investigating all of the incidents.

He said there is an “internal cleansing” being conducted by the PNP to rid its ranks of scalawags.

Dela Rosa said 74 policemen were found positive during random drug testing conducted since July 1. – With Marvin Sy, Eva Visperas, Artemio Dumlao