Duterte: PNP chief faces DILG probe

But only after Senate finishes inquiry; Duterte wants proof 

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde will face a separate probe by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regarding accusations that he coddled so-called “ninja cops” involved in recycling prohibited drugs when he was PNP commander in Pampanga, President Duterte said last night.

Duterte issued the statement before leaving for Russia, hours after Albayalde was grilled at the Senate on the ninja cops. Duterte said DILG Secretary Eduardo Año would conduct the “review” after the Senate completes its inquiry into the issue, “in obedience to the separation of powers and respect for each other’s departments.”

“If it comes to a serious thing of removing the highest official of the PNP, it has to be for a good reason and there should be enough proof,” Duterte told reporters at the NAIA Terminal 2. “Emotions, anger and disappointments would not come into play.”

The seventh hearing of the committee – chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon – focused on a particular raid conducted in Mexico, Pampanga on Nov. 29, 2013 involving Albayalde’s intelligence officer and other subordinates when he was provincial police director.

The police operation was investigated on allegations that drugs were pilfered, and the Chinese suspect was set free after allegedly paying P50 million to the arresting officers.

It was Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former chief of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), who mentioned Albayalde’s name during a closed-door meeting with senators last Sept. 19. Magalong said Albayalde’s men were not punished as they should have been, while some were considered promoted.

The internal probe led by Magalong indicated that the law enforcers seized over 200 kilos of shabu with an
 estimated value of nearly P700 million but arresting officers declared only 38 kilos.

The suspect, identified as Johnson Lee, was replaced with another Chinese suspect supposedly arrested in Clark Field, Pampanga.

“It’s really up to the President what to do,” Gordon told reporters after the six-hour hearing, even as he advised Albayalde to be more forthright in the next hearing on Thursday.

He said he agreed with the findings of the PNP internal probe, led by Magalong, and a court that there was a cover-up in the 2013 raid.

When asked whether or not Albayalde was part of the cover-up, he said: “Possibly.”

What senators found suspicious was Albayalde’s phone call to then PNP Region 3 chief Aaron Aquino, now director general of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), sometime in the last quarter of 2016 asking about the case of his former subordinates led by intelligence officer Supt. Rodney Baloyo, who were ordered dismissed in 2014 following Magalong’s internal probe. 

Albayalde was ordered relieved as Pampanga provincial police director owing to command responsibility following the raid, but no administrative or criminal charges were filed against him.

Magalong told the inquiry that in a recent meeting at the Manila Hotel with President Duterte and Sen. Christopher Go, Aquino had confided that Albayalde asked him to stop the implementation of the dismissal order of his men in that phone call.

Minutes earlier, Magalong prodded Aquino to tell all before the inquiry.

“Both our families are under pressure here,” Magalong told Aquino.

At one point, Magalong accused Albayalde of receiving a sport utility vehicle (SUV) from his men, apparently proceeds from the raid.

Aquino admitted that he indeed received a call from Albayalde, who wanted to check on the status of the case. At that time, Albayalde was chief of the National Capital Region Police Office.

The PDEA chief later told reporters that Albayalde did not ask him to stop the dismissal, adding Magalong may have misheard him when he narrated the call to Duterte.

Aquino said he had sent drug-linked cops to Mindanao when he was assigned to Pampanga, including some of those under Albayalde. 

Albayalde also denied having tried to influence Aquino, his upperclassman at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

“How could I possibly influence a regional director?” he said, adding that families of the police officers were inquiring with him on the case, being their former superior.

The PNP chief also denied receiving an SUV, saying he only has a pick-up truck as his personal vehicle.

Albayalde turned the tables on Magalong, saying if the latter was really against rogue cops, he should have fired Baloyo and his men as early as 2014, since he was in a position to do so.

As PNP chief, his focus has been on internal cleansing where hundreds of corrupt cops have been arrested, he said.

He said he is still trying to figure out if Magalong has an axe to grind against him.

In response, Magalong said, “We were looking at all investigation and detection of all units of the Philippine National Police. I cannot be specific.”

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former PNP chief, wondered why the dismissal order reached Baloyo and his men only in 2016, and that the penalty was reduced to only demotion by Gen. Amador Corpus, a classmate of Albayalde at the PMA.

Lacson also questioned Aquino on why he did not immediately implement the dismissal order. The PDEA chief said there was a pending motion for reconsideration from the police officers.

The senator also stressed the need for the committee to sort out the contradicting testimonies of Baloyo and an eyewitness on the operation.

Baloyo insisted the operation took place at 4:30 p.m. but several witnesses, including barangay officials and security guards, testified that the raid was around 10 a.m.

He questioned Baloyo’s failure to inform his then superior Albayalde about their operation involving suspected drug personality Johnson Lee.

“Do not test our patience. I was about to move to cite you in contempt of this committee so you better be forthright in your answer,” Lacson said.

When Baloyo said he informed Albayalde only after they arrived in the area of the operation because he did not want to be embarrassed, Lacson remarked: “It’s unusual and it’s not believable.”

PNP chief’s appointment

Magalong also said that he had informed Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año about his reservation on the appointment of Albayalde as PNP chief in April 2018.

Magalong said he was not sure whether Año received the information, similar to what he revealed during the hearing yesterday jointly held by the Senate Blue Ribbon and the justice and human rights committees.

“I sent word through his (Año) classmate, hindi ko alam kung nakarating sa kanya (I don’t know if it reached him),” Magalong told reporters after the Senate hearing.

Magalong said he was frustrated when President Duterte appointed Albayalde as PNP chief in April 2018.

“I am just very frustrated. To be honest with you kasi alam ko (because I know). Unfortunately di alam lahat ni Presidente. Ako, alam ko  (the President did not know, but I knew) personally, alam ko, ako nag imbestiga. Alam ko naman ano nangyari (I knew, I was the one who investigated, I know what happened),” he told reporters.

Año yesterday denied there was personal conflict between Albayalde and Aquino, also a former police official.

Año claimed that everything is well between Albayalde and Aquino despite the PDEA’s revelations that the recycling or selling of seized illegal drugs by corrupt policemen, also known as “ninja cops,” is still rampant.

The Central Luzon police had recently recalled the security men assigned to Aquino supposedly to be used as augmentation units for the Southeast Asian Games in November.

The police escorts were later returned to secure Aquino upon his request to Duterte.

“Parang ang dating kase ay grabe ang awayan pero nakausap ko yung dalawa. Nagkausap yung dalawa,  (It might seem that their tiff is very serious, but I spoke with both of them. They talked), very professional,” Año told radio dzBB.

Año said it is normal among government officials to have arguments during the performance of their jobs.

Despite the issues surrounding Albayalde’s alleged involvement with ninja cops, Año said he is satisfied with the PNP chief’s performance.

“Si Gen. Albayalde ay seryoso sa trabaho nya (is serious with his work). Based on my observation sa term nya bilang chief PNP very satisfied ako sa performance,” he said.

Drug queen

National Capital Region Poiice Office chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar had ordered an investigation on the dismissal in 2009 by the Quezon City regional trial court (RTC) of a drug case filed against Manila’s alleged “drug queen” Guia Gomez-Castro.

Eleazar said yesterday that they want to determine whether “money changed hands” to ensure her acquittal.

Castro had slipped out of the country and is now believed to be hiding in the United States.

“Our latest monitoring is that she is in America. This is a proof that we are focusing on her, that she is our priority target,” said Eleazar. “So it is better for her to just surrender, she has no way out but surrender.”

He bared that on Sept. 21, Castro left the country for Bangkok, Thailand and later went to Taiwan. On Sept. 25, she arrived in Los Angeles, California.

Eleazar directed the NCRPO intelligence unit, drug enforcement unit and the legal service to work together to probe Castro’s drug case.

“We want to identify all the policemen who conducted the operation, how the case was filed and who served as witnesses on this case,” said Eleazar.

Eleazar said the case against Castro was docketed as Q-01-105406-08 before a Quezon City RTC for violation of Section 15 and 16 of Republic Act 6425. Section 15 refers to Sale, Administration, Dispension, Delivery, Transportation and Distribution of Regulated Drugs, while Secrion 16 refers to Possession or Use of Regulated Drugs. 

An arrest warrant was issued against Castro on March 1, 2002 but the case was dismissed in 2009. 

“We want to know what happened because if this drug queen has links with ninja cops, then it is highly possible that the case was sabotaged in her favor,” Eleazar said. 

Based on his experience, the NCRPO chief said the modus operandi of erring cops is to deliberately file a weak case or policemen serving as witnesses would not attend court hearings to pave the way for case dismissal. 

In exchange, the erring cops would be paid with huge sums of money, he stressed. 

PDEA’s Aquino said Castro was allegedly buying confiscated shabu from erring cops. Aside from the drug case, Castro also has warrants of arrest in 2003 and 2011, both for issuing bouncing checks. The Quezon City RTC issued all of the warrants.

Eleazar said they are now coordinating with foreign counterparts to deport Castro back to the country from the United States.  – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Emmanuel Tupas, Non Alquitran, Raymund Catindig