PNP chief Azurin not spared from courtesy resignation — Abalos
This August 31, 2022, photo shows Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. during a press briefing in Malacañang. Philippine Daily Inquirer/ Marianne Bermudez
MANILA, Philippines — Not even Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. would be exempt from the request for colonels and generals to submit courtesy resignations, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. revealed on Wednesday.
At a news conference, Abalos was asked if PNP Chaplain Service Brig. Gen. Jason Ortizo, a priest by profession, and Azurin would be asked to quit their jobs voluntarily.
He said yes.
“Yes, kasama (si General Azurin), ‘yong full colonel and the generals, I’m appealing to them,” he added.
(Yes, General Azurin is part of it, including the full colonel and the generals, I’m appealing to them.)
Abalos called for the courtesy resignation of all police colonels and generals earlier in the briefing, citing concerns that many are already part of drug syndicates.
He mentioned that former president Fidel Ramos called for police officials to submit courtesy resignations in 1992 over a police uniform issue.
“It is just an appeal. Number two, ginawa na ito no’ng 1992, if I’m not mistaken, by general, (former) president Ramos. Remember, no’ng nagkaroon ng issue tungkol sa, I think it was the uniform, pinag-resign nila,” Abalos said.
(It is just an appeal. Number two, this was done in 1992, if I’m not mistaken, by general, former president Ramos. Remember, when there was an issue with the uniforms, he asked them to hand in courtesy resignations.)
“There’s already a precedent na nangyari no’ng pinag-courtesy resignation niya ang mga officers, may nangyari nang ganito,” he added.
(There’s already a precedent where officers were asked to do courtesy resignation, so this approach already happened.)
Abalos said a five-person group would evaluate resigning officials’ profiles.
The officials would continue to work until the committee accepts their courtesy resignation and removes them from duty.
Officials are reinstated if the committee rejects their resignation.
Abalos explained that the administration asked PNP personnel to quit instead of punishing them since cases would still be filed.
Assessing colonels and generals is a shortcut because legal procedures are lengthy.
He also promised that officials would not be beholden to him or Azurin since they were not on the committee.
“We’ve been doing that for so long, we’ve been doing that and alam mo naman ang tagal ng proseso ng husgado, ang technicality, ang lahat. Hindi lang tayo, pati mga first-world country, second-world country, kaya nga ang sinasabi ko sa inyo, ito ay ang shortcut dito, if you want it that way,” he said.
(We’ve been doing that for so long, we’ve been doing that and you know how long the judicial process is due to the technicalities and all other procedures. So this is not new anymore because even first-world countries, and second-world countries have this, so this can be labeled a shortcut if you want it that way.)
“Walang kinalaman ako, walang kinalaman si Chief PNP, it will be a committee of five, not us, hindi kami po ‘yon,” Abalos said.
(I do not have any hand on this, the PNP chief is not involved, it will be a committee of five, not us.)
Generals have been accused of drug trafficking before. For example, Rodrigo Duterte named several PNP generals as drug traffickers during his presidency.
READ: Duterte SONA rekindles PNP desire to probe generals involved in drugs
On one occasion, the former chief executive said he was surprised to know that he was fighting his own government in the drug war, as many players within PNP were involved in illegal activities.
