PDEA chief’s security escorts recalled

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police has pulled out the police escorts of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino apparently due to the “ninja cops” controversy, Sen. Richard Gordon disclosed on Sunday.

Gordon, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said the PNP chief, Gen. Oscar Albayalde, had been invited to appear in the next hearing on Tuesday after the head of the 175,000-strong police force repudiated speculation that he was on the list of senior police officials behind the “recycling” of seized illegal drugs.

Policemen who pilfer and sell seized drugs are called ninja cops. Aquino has told Gordon’s committee that these rogue officers continue to operate, although the PNP insists they have already been busted.

List submitted to President

The ninja cop list was turned over to Gordon’s committee by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, who led several antidrug operations when he was the chief of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Gordon said he had forwarded the list and the transcript of the executive session with Magalong to President Duterte, who has expressed “interest” in the matter.

“I am more concerned after I learned that Aquino has been stripped of his security escorts [by the PNP]. They were recalled allegedly because they were ordered to report [to their units],” Gordon said in a radio interview.

“He is the [government’s] No. 1 drug enforcer, why would you remove his security? It’s not proper. They should bring back his security [escorts]. How can he conduct operations?” Gordon added.

Asked if the recall showed that the PDEA and the PNP were at loggerheads, the senator said: “That’s right.”

Albayalde on Sunday denied that the recall of Aquino’s escorts had to do with the ninja cops controversy.

In a brief message to the Inquirer, Albayalde denied that he ordered the recall of Aquino’s security.

Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, the PNP spokesperson, confirmed that there was a security recall, but said it covered not only Aquino but all government officials in Central Luzon with security escorts.

For SEA Games only

Banac said the recall was necessary because the PNP in Central Luzon needed all of its personnel for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which will be held in various venues in the region from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.

Banac gave assurance that the recall was only for the duration of the SEA Games.

But Aquino, in a text message to the Inquirer, said his security detail appeared to have been singled out.

“While all other security details were allowed to report back to their VIP assignments after accounting by the PNP, mine were given different duty assignments despite appeals to the regional director of [the Police Regional Office 3] due to the high risk of my death threats and [those] of my family,” Aquino said.

He added that he met with the President on Sept. 25 and that Mr. Duterte gave verbal orders to return his security detail.

More surprises

Gordon said the public should brace for more surprises when his committee resumed its probe on Tuesday, which had shifted from irregularities in the Bureau of Corrections to alleged collusion between drug syndicates and corrupt policemen.

When asked if Albayalde was really tagged by Magalong, Gordon said: “I have not said anything about that. He could have been named or not.”

“I cannot tell anything since I have not heard from the President. But if nothing has yet been mentioned on Tuesday, it would surely come out,” he said.

“We invited Albayalde because he has been making noise already. If he wants to speak as PNP chief, then he can do that. If something came out about him, then that’s the time he will be questioned,” Gordon added.

The Senate had agreed to let the President disclose the identities of the ninja cops.

Speaking in a radio interview on Sunday, Banac said the PNP had busted the ninja cops as a group.

He said there were 87 officers in the group and that only 22 were remaining but lying low.

Banac said the 22 could not be removed from the drug watch list because they had yet to be cleared.

‘Drug queen’

In the heat of the ninja cop controversy last week, the PNP identified an alleged buyer of drugs pilfered by rogue officers, Guia Gomez Castro, chair of Barangay 484 Zone 48 in Manila’s Sampaloc district.

But Castro, labeled by the PNP as “drug queen,” had already fled the country.

The Bureau of Immigration said Castro left for Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 21.

The sudden disclosure of Castro’s identity surprised the senators, who asked why the PNP had done nothing about her when it had known about her illegal activities for some time.

Gordon himself said the identification of Castro could be a diversionary tactic.

On Sunday, the police overseer, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, said he had ordered the arrest of Castro once she returned to the country.

Speaking in a radio interview, Año said the Philippines was consulting other Southeast Asian governments on how to facilitate Castro’s extradition and that the International Criminal Police Organization could issue a red notice for her.

Año said he could no longer consider Castro a government official because of her absence and inability to serve as head of Barangay 484 Zone 48. The village first councilor has been designated as officer in charge of the barangay, he said.

He said local courts had issued warrants for Castro’s arrest, two for violation of the bouncing check law and one for a drug offense, which he did not specify. —WITH A REPORT FROM JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE