Albayalde: It is up to Duterte to announce names of ‘ninja cops’

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde said he will let President Rodrigo Duterte announce the names of “ninja cops,” or police officers who are involved in the recycling of seized illegal drugs.

“It is up to President. Let’s give him wisdom and give him enough time to decide,” Albayalde told the reporters after the turnover ceremony on Korea’s donated motorcycles in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Thursday when asked about his reaction on Duterte’s plan to reveal the identity of so-called “ninja cops.”

Albayalde said he met with Duterte on Wednesday night to give him updates on the PNP’s campaign against illegal drugs.

“I briefed him on our war against drugs. The usual reporting natin [our usual reporting]. As we all know naman, kasi may mga lumalabas na intriga [because of all the allegations] so I briefed the President on the status on the war on drugs,” he said.

Albayalde said he provided the PNP’s own list of “ninja cops,” noting that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has its own list.

Albayalde, however, refused to disclose the number of “ninja cops” on the list as well as their identities to the media.

Asked about the Senate’s decision to release the contents of the executive session which identified the “ninja cops,” Albayalde said he will leave it to the Senate.

“I don’t know let’s leave it to them, in due time everything will be cleared in due time. We are very confident on PNP and we will weather this and this will be covered by documents and not (by) insinuation,” Albayalde said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Albayalde maintained that PNP is doing its part to rid its ranks of rogue policemen with the help of the PNP’s Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG).

“That is why we are trying to weed out we are conducting case surveillance and case buildup among these people. That is why we have the IMEG to address this to weed out the scalawags in our ranks,” PNP chief said mixed in Filipino and English.  /muf