Albayalde doesn’t think cop’s shooting in QC driven by Duterte’s HK trip prize

President Rodrigo Duterte’s promise to reward policemen who will kill their superiors involved in illegal drugs with a trip to Hongkong might not be an underlying motivation in the shooting of a ranking police officer in Quezon City.

Philippine National Police Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said this Friday even as reports alleged that Supt. Edgardo Cariaso, who is currently in critical condition at a hospital, was allegedly involved in illegal drugs.

According to Albayalde, investigators are looking into this information and have yet to identify the suspect in Cariaso’s shooting.

“Wala siguro, kasi ‘yung effort naman namin ay hindi nagbago since sa pag-create ng ating CITF (Counter-Intelligence Task Force) hanggang ngayon,” he told reporters in a chance interview when asked if the attack on Cariaso may be related to the reward promised by President Duterte.

(I think it is has nothing to do with it, because our effort since the creation of CITF has not changed until now.)

The CITF is the police unit tasked to run after erring officers.

“Wala namang pagbabago sa intensity ng aming police operations against sa tinatawag nating scalawags in uniform,” he also said.

(Nothing has changed in the intensity of our police operations against so-called scalawags in uniform.)

Mr. Duterte on Tuesday offered a trip to Hong Kong as reward to the policeman who killed Supt. Santiago Rapiz in a drug buy-bust in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte.

READ: Duterte to gift cop with trip to HK for killing ‘ninja’ boss in Dipolog drug bust

Two days later, Cariaso was shot as he alighted his sports utility vehicle. Cariaso is said to be assigned at the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS) in Camp Crame. The PNP-IAS handles complaints against policemen.

Albayalde said policemen are “concerned” about the attack on Cariaso since it could be an indication that some senior officers in the PNP could still be involved in the illegal drugs trade. /kga