Only 24 senior cops haven’t resigned, says PNP chief
Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Only 24 senior police officers have not heeded the call by Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos to resign as the government tries to rid the Philippine National Police of high-ranking officials with suspected links to drug syndicates.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., in a Monday press briefing, said the PNP had received 929 out of 953 expected courtesy resignations from its top officials ahead of the Jan. 31 deadline.
“This number represents 97.48 percent of all 953 third-level police officials expected to heed the call,” he told reporters.
Seven of the senior officials —two generals and five colonels set to retire in the first quarter of the year—have not submitted their resignations.
“[As for] the rest… I hope they are still finding discernment, if they are going to file or not. Maybe they are waiting for the Jan. 31 deadline. We are hopeful they will eventually submit their courtesy resignations,” Azurin said.
He said these officials might have reservations because they could be implicated in illegal drug activities even if they were not involved in such. An accepted resignation would mean that the officer was found to have links with illegal drugs, he added.
‘Cleansing’ process
An independent five-member committee that includes Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, a retired police general, will screen the resignations. Other members of the committee have yet to be identified.
“That’s why we keep on asking the five-man committee, whoever they are, to be fair because the careers of our officers are [on the] line,” Azurin said.
“We are expecting that they will maintain their impeccable character and integrity so that the result of all their evaluation will be acceptable to everyone,” he said.
Magalong, speaking at Monday’s Laging Handa briefing, said details on the committee’s composition and procedures to evaluate the resignations as part of Abalos’ “internal cleansing” would be out “anytime soon.”
“Let us wait, there might be an announcement anytime soon by Secretary Benhur (Abalos) so that we will know when it will really convene, when we will begin [our work]. We are just waiting,” he said.
Recounting his conversation with Abalos, Magalong said: “We had a substantial number of minutes where he talked about and discussed this, and what’s the background of this incident that prompted him to call for a courtesy resignation.”
“And I saw that he really did the right thing to call for a courtesy resignation based on all of this information that he gathered,” he added.
On Jan. 4, Abalos called on the PNP top brass’ resignations to cleanse the “deeply entrenched” illegal drug problem in the police force.
Azurin handed in his resignation on Jan. 5, followed on Jan. 6 by National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) officials led by their director, Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo, who also ordered a surprise drug testing of all 67 senior NCRPO officials.
By Jan. 9, there were close to 600 courtesy resignations. On Jan. 13, Abalos said 130 generals and 774 colonels had submitted their courtesy resignations.
Abalos said he expected the committee to be done in two to three months, in time for Azurin’s retirement on April 24 and the naming of a new PNP chief.
He said officers found to be involved in illegal drugs but the evidence against them was not “that strong” would be allowed to retire in peace and would not be subjected to public shaming.
But Abalos said “the monitoring and investigation on them must continue” to gather evidence that would lead to their eventual prosecution “because what is important is to eradicate the problem of drugs once and for all.”
