Albayalde eyes suit vs drug trade accusers

MANILA, Philippines — Fed up with allegations linking him to the “ninja cops” who sell seized illegal drugs, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde is considering filing charges against Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong and retired police general Rudy Lacadin.

“Of course,” Albayalde said yesterday when asked if he is planning to sue Magalong and Lacadin.

He did not go into details on the cases that he intends to file against the two former police officials.

Lacadin revealed during a Senate Blue Ribbon inquiry into ninja cops or police officers involved in the recycling of drugs that Albayalde made a remark during a phone conversation that he might have received a share of dirty money from a controversial anti-illegal drugs operation in Mexico, Pampanga on Nov. 29, 2013.

Albayalde vehemently denied calling Lacadin and admitting that he benefited from the controversial raid where 13 police officers who allegedly recycled 160 kilos of shabu with a street value of P650 million seized in the raid.

He was then police director of Pampanga while Lacadin was PNP deputy chief of operations of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

Magalong, former CIDG chief and superior of Lacadin, has accused Albayalde of protecting the police officers who were implicated in the controversial raid and intervened in their dismissal order.

Albayalde also denied rumors circulating via text message that he has tendered his resignation following Lacadin’s startling revelations.

“Totally false,” he replied when asked about the rumors that he has resigned.

PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac denied rumors circulating in social media that Albayalde has quit his post.

Albayalde, who will retire on Nov. 8, scored what he described as a “smear campaign” to discredit his reputation with just a month before

he leaves the police service.

“I question the timing of this attack and smear campaign against me. Until now, despite the Senate hearings conducted, no hard evidence was ever presented showing that I was involved in that drug raid in Pampanga in 2013,” he said.

“All statements made remain allegations, insinuations and unsubstantiated,” Albayalde added.

A former police official now holding another government post said Albayalde should consider retiring early in the wake of the “embarrassing” allegations against him.

“He can choose to retire if he really cares for the police organization,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in a phone interview.

The official said the conversation between Lacadin and Albayalde, if indeed true, could be an unguarded moment.

Even if it was only a joke, the official said Albayalde should not have said those words in the first place.