Eleazar: Duterte abhors cops involved in illegal drug trade

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is consistent in his stand against policemen who take advantage of the campaign against illegal drugs and those involved in the illegal drug trade.

This is what National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Major General Guillermo Eleazar said Thursday after Duterte made the assurance that he has the police chief’s back.

Eleazar earlier received criticisms for publicly berating a police officer who is allegedly involved in robbery-extortion activities in Pasig City.

Eleazar said Duterte’s approval of how he handled the rogue cop showed the “consistency” of his stand against scallawags in the police force.

READ: Eleazar denies slapping, pulling hair of cop arrested for extortion

READ: Duterte backs NCRPO’s Eleazar confronting ‘kotong’ cop

“The President’s approval of the way I handled the cops involved in robbery-extortion activity yesterday only shows the consistency of our President — how he abhors policemen involved in the illegal drugs trade and policemen taking advantage of our war against illegal drugs to make money for themselves,” Eleazar said in a statement.

Eleazar said that under the directive of the President, the Philippines National Police (PNP) is tasked with implementing an all-out war against illegal drugs and cops who are involved in the illegal drug trade.

“This is why our current Chief PNP Oscar Albayalde launched our Internal Cleansing campaign — the primary targets being cops in the drug trade, and secondary targets being cops in criminal acts,” he said.

The NCRPO chief assured that his office is committed to weeding out the scallawags in the ranks and wipe out criminal acts such as robbery-extortion.

“We at Team NCRPO are committed to wiping out these kinds of criminal acts and weeding out the bad policemen from our ranks,” Eleazar said.

“We seek an ideal PNP organization that will be respectable and honorable down to the last uniformed policeman; and where there is no space for scallawags and rogue cops,” he added. /ee