DILG starts probe on ‘ninja cops’ — Año

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año. INQUIRER.net / CHRISTIA MARIE RAMOS

MOSCOW, Russia — Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said he has started to investigate Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde’s alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade, particularly on the “ninja cops” controversy.

In a chance interview with reporters on the sidelines of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Filipino community event Saturday night, Año said the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has started the review of the case even before the Senate completes its own probe.

Duterte earlier said he would let the Senate justice committee finish its investigation into the issue and wait for Año to complete his own internal probe before deciding on the fate of Albayalde.

“So sabi niya, once and for all aantayin ang result nung (So he said, once and for all, we will wait for the) Senate investigation and the results will be given to me, and then from there I will review the case of the alleged ninja cops, and kasama na rin kung paano nasangkot si General Albayalde dito (included there would be how Albayalde got involved),” Año said.

“But actually, and even without the result of the Senate investigation committee, I already started the review of the case,” he added.

In the previous Senate hearing, former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong accused Albayalde, who was then Pampanga provincial police director, of intervening to stop the dismissal of 13 police officers involved in the November 2013 drug bust in Mexico, Pampanga which was marred by several alleged irregularities.

The anti-drug operation supposedly led to the confiscation of 200 kilograms of shabu, but members of the raiding team only reported 38 kilos, based on the investigation conducted by the CIDG then.

Albayalde, however, denied Magalong’s allegations.

READ: Albayalde, Magalong, Aquino back at Senate for ‘ninja cop’ probe

Asked for an update on the case, Año said he will sit down with the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) lawyers and the DILG legal service once he arrives in Manila to look at the status of the case. /je