EDITORIAL - Rotten eggs

This anti-narcotics policeman should be grateful that Rodrigo Duterte has not yet assumed the presidency. If the charges are accurate, Police Officer 2 Jolly Aliangan is the type of cop that has eroded public confidence in the Philippine National Police. And he is the type of cop that has made Filipinos pin their hopes on Duterte and his tough approach to criminality to rid the PNP of rotten eggs.

Aliangan, a member of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drug unit of the National Capital Region Police Office, was arrested Wednesday on charges that he sold drugs seized by his team. He has denied the accusations and claimed he was framed, but the arresting officers said they recovered 300 grams of shabu, drug paraphernalia and P6.9 million stashed in a vault when they raided Aliangan’s house in Manila.

The involvement of a police anti-narcotics operative in drug dealing becomes more alarming following the deaths of five persons apparently after taking party drugs at a concert recently. Investigators are pursuing reports that the party drugs were being passed around among certain groups before the five complained of difficulty in breathing and eventually passed out.

It’s not the first time that a police officer assigned to an anti-narcotics unit has been accused of selling drugs confiscated by his team. Many cops involved in the anti-drug campaign have been accused of coddling notorious drug traffickers, and of alerting shabu manufacturers before a police raid – the reason most raids fail to catch the ringleader.

Duterte has promised an overhaul of law enforcement agencies, including those involved mainly in going after drug traffickers. Huge profits from the illegal drug trade continue to entice law enforcers, and any purge must be sustained.