Cop with P6.7-billion ‘shabu’ stash was cited by PNP

FROM HERO TO SUSPECT Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr. (right) was awarded by former PNP officer in charge Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. for “meritorious heroic acts” during a buy-bust operation in Valenzuela City in May. —PHOTO FROM PNP-PIO

MANILA, Philippines — The police officer who was arrested last week in an operation that led to the confiscation of almost a ton of suspected “shabu” worth P6.7 billion — one of the largest hauls in the history of drug enforcement — had been cited by the Philippine National Police as best anti-drug police officer.

Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., an intelligence officer assigned to the PNP-Drug Enforcement Group’s (PNP-DEG) Special Operations Unit in the National Capital Region, was a decorated police officer. Before his arrest on Sunday, he had no derogatory record.

On May 31, Mayo was among the 10 DEG personnel recognized by then PNP officer in charge Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. for “meritorious heroic acts as an offshoot of a drug buy-bust operation on May 22, 2022, in Valenzuela City.”

The operation led to the arrest of three suspects and the seizure of 12 kilograms of shabu worth P81 million.

Later in June, Mayo was named “best senior police noncommissioned officer” of the PNP-DEG.

For PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., there was a possibility Mayo might just be working for other police officials also involved in the drug trade.

“I would believe this is not just up to [his] level…. We really have to have an intensive investigation,” he said at a press briefing on Monday at Camp Crame.

PNP-DEG director Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo said that Mayo had agreed to reveal the details of their drug operations and other persons behind them.

As an intelligence officer, Mayo was privy to important information about the illegal drug trade. He also had the power to feed wrong information to the PNP-DEG that could compromise its operations.

Mayo faces administrative cases, which may lead to his dismissal from the service, in addition to criminal charges filed by the police against him and nine other suspects.

He and his co-accused were arrested in a series of operations over the weekend that resulted in the seizure of around 990 kilos of crystal meth, or shabu worth P6.7 billion in Tondo, Manila.

The other suspects taken into custody were Rey Saligumba Atadero, Juden Francisco, Lyndon Dionson, Kenneth Dionson, Dindo Chococo, Ritzel Carballo, Bernardo Corridor, Rodolfo Detulla, and Virgilio Bacuz.

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