Sotto to Albayalde: Dismiss the 13 Pampanga ‘ninja cops’

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde should implement the dismissal order against his former subordinates in Pampanga to prove he did not have anything to do with their alleged anomalous activities, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Tuesday.

“The best way for the chief PNP to show that he does not have anything to do with them is to complete the proposal of the dismissal and file the necessary cases,” Sotto told reporters in a forum at the Manila Hotel.

The Senate is probing the alleged recycling of crystal meth, or shabu, seized by 13 Pampanga police officers in an anti-drug operation in November 2013.

The officers were subordinates of Albayalde, who was then the chief of the  Pampanga Police Provincial office.

Albayalde and his former subordinates were accused of benefiting from the 2013 operation against a certain Johnson Lee, wherein the police team allegedly seized some 200 kilograms of shabu but only declared 36 kilograms as evidence.

The Pampanga officers were also allegedly paid to make it appear that the Chinese drug lord had escaped.

Albayalde, meanwhile, is also accused of supposedly influencing the investigation against the officers.

Sotto said that criminal cases should be filed against the officers for misdeclaring the seized illegal drugs and other evidence.

The 13 officers were ordered relieved in 2014 after being found guilty of grave misconduct for failing to account for all evidence in the operation. However, after filing a motion for reconsideration in 2016, they were just demoted by one rank.

/atm