PDEA chief: I got my security back ‘by force’

MANILA, Philippines— Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino said his security escorts are back “by force.”

“Yes, finally I got it (security) last September 26 by force,” Aquino told reporters after attending a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

READ: PDEA chief gets back police escorts

“Kinuha ko na lang sila dahil nga ayaw ibalik sa akin so sabi ko sa mga tao ko just go back to PDEA. Huwag na kayong magpaalam. Bumalik na lang sila,” he added.

(I just took them because they don’t want to return them to me so I told my men to just go back to PDEA. Don’t ask for permission. So they just returned.)

Senator Richard Gordon earlier disclosed that Aquino’s police escorts had been recalled supposedly due to the “ninja cops” controversy.

READ: PDEA chief’s security escorts recalled

The issue of “ninja cops” or those linked in the alleged recycling of seized illegal drugs is one of the issues being investigated by the Senate committee on justice.

PNP chief General Oscar Albayalde already denied that the recall had to do with the ninja cops controversy.

Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, the spokesman of PNP, explained that they recalled the security escorts not only of the PDEA chief but all government officials in Central Luzon since they would need their personnel for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games from November 30 to December 11. /kga