Albayalde: Magalong as CIDG chief could have addressed ‘ninja cops’ issue

MANILA, Philippines — A fuming Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde on Tuesday hit back at Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, saying he could have used his “power and authority” as chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to reprimand the erring cops over a November 2013 anti-drug operation.

Albayalde was responding to Magalong’s statement where he hit the “selective” cleansing in the PNP for failing to dismiss 13 Pampanga cops who were allegedly involved in the recycling of seized illegal drugs.

“He was CIDG director, he could’ve done everything with all his power, with all his authority to address this matter also. He could’ve followed up,” Albayalde said during the Senate probe on the existence of cops involved in illegal drug trade or otherwise known as “ninja cops.”

“After six years, this became an issue again, hindi ko po alam kung anong gusto ipalabas ni General Magalong (I don’t know what General Magalong is trying to prove) but we have papers here that were are really dead serious in our campaign against illegal drugs and against scalawags in uniform,” he added.

Thirteen Pampanga policemen, who were under the leadership of then Pampanga police provincial director Albayalde, were found guilty of grave misconduct for failing to account all confiscated evidence during an illegal drug buy-bust operation in Mexico, Pampanga, in November 2013.

The policemen allegedly seized millions worth of shabu after the operation.

They were initially ordered dismissed but was only demoted by one rank after filing a motion for reconsideration in March 2016. Magalong also pointed out that the said policemen still managed to clinch high posts in the PNP.

Officers allegedly did not follow the rules of engagement, which caused suspicion that they did not properly declare the amount of illegal drugs they seized.

Magalong reasoned that he could not have pursued the case against the erring cops as he was swamped with other cases as director of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detection Management (DIDM)

“We’re basically looking at the detection of all the units of PNP. I cannot simply be very specific on one particular you have to be looking for the big picture,” he added.

He also said that his statements were “not scripted” as he was even “hesitant to appear before the Senate.

Albayalde maintained that Magalong could have followed up as he was so “emphatic” in the proliferation of drugs in the province during that time.

“He did not follow up the cases of these people when they were supposed to be dismissed in 2014 and he had all the time,” he said.

However, Senator Richard Gordon, who presided over the Senate probe, said that the same could be said of Albayalde as he was previously the Pampanga police provincial director. /je