Lacson on Albayalde, ‘ninja cops’ indictment: The law has a ‘very long memory’

MANILA, Philippines — The law “does not only have a long arm” but it also “has a very long memory.”

This was the reaction of Senator Panfilo Lacson after the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Oscar Albayalde and other “ninja cops” for graft in connection with the questionable 2013 drug raid in Mexico, Pampanga.

“I personally think that it is as far as the evidence against former PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde can go, as shown even during the Senate inquiry,” Lacson, a former PNP chief, said in a statement on Thursday.

“The lesson learned here is that the law does not only have a long arm. It also has a very long memory,” he added.

Aside from Albayalde, who was then the Pampanga provincial director at the time of the drug bust, the DOJ also indicted for graft Lt. Col. Rodney Baloyo and several other police officers.

Baloyo led the controversial drug operation when he was then the intelligence chief of the Pampanga police.

He and the other policemen were also indicted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act specifically for misappropriation, misapplication or failure to account for the confiscated drugs, planting of evidence, and delay and bungling in the prosecution of drug cases.

“The surest way for police officers like (Lt. Col.) Baloyo et. al to avoid past misdeeds from catching up with them is not to commit those misdemeanors in the first place,” Lacson went on.