Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., PNP chief.. (Photo from the Facebook page of the Office of the Chief PNP)
MANILA, Philippines — The recommendation to dismiss Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., an anti-narcotics police officer arrested in an October 22 drug bust that yielded P6.7 billion of crystal meth, is now up for approval of Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Azurin himself announced this on Wednesday in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig on the sidelines of the National Day of Remembrance for 44 PNP Special Action Force commandos who were killed in action in an anti-terrorist operation in Mamasapano in 2015.
The Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of PNP made the recommendation to dismiss Mayo, a copy of which Azurin said he had not read.
“There’s no timeframe to this as long as the IAS has the recommendation and the result of the investigation is already for my approval. We will still have to check if the recommended punishment is appropriate for the supposed offense Sergeant Mayo had committed,” Azurin said, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino.
Asked about reports on Mayo not submitting a counter-affidavit for the IAS investigation, the PNP chief said this was “tantamount to waiving all his rights” to explain his side.
“We cannot fault whatever the recommendation of the IAS is because they are investigating the administrative case of Sergeant Mayo. I think it is a shortcoming on the end of Sergeant Mayo since he did not submit his counter-affidavit,” Azurin said.
If Azurin approves the IAS recommendation, Mayo would be perpetually disqualified from holding any other government position.
Mayo’s arrest, in what was deemed one of the largest hauls in the country’s history of drug enforcement, pushed the government to pursue a “very radical approach” in purging the PNP ranks of links to the illegal drug trade.
It drove Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. to make his appeal for high-ranking police officials to tender their courtesy resignations and subject themselves to a “narco” evaluation.
Azurin reiterated that 11 of the 953 senior PNP officers, including eight colonels and three generals, have yet to turn in their courtesy resignations.
He also noted that among the 11 top-ranking police officers, three were reluctant to voluntarily step down from their posts as they were slated to retire before the Jan. 31 deadline.