Retired CA Justice joins five-man panel tasked to sort out PNP top brass

The Philippine National Police Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Niño Jesus Orbeta/Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — A retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice has been named as among the five-man committee members tasked to initially screen over 900 police generals and colonels who recently resigned due to an internal cleansing in the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The purge in the country’s police force is meant to remove erring police officers who are suspected to be either involved in illegal drug activities or connected with drug syndicates.

Former CA Associate Justice Melchor Sadang’s name was revealed by Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. on Tuesday, just a week after the other members of the Azurin-led committee were made public.

READ: Azurin leads five-member panel on ‘narco cops’ purge

“Ang panglima na miyembro ng advisory group ay i-a-announce na natin. Ang pangalan niya ay si Justice Melchor Quirino Sadang. Si Justice Sadang ay naging Associate Justice ng Court of Appeals noong 2011 up to 2017,” Abalos told reporters.

(We’ll announce the fifth member of the advisory group. His name is Justice Melchor Quirino Sadang. Justice Sadang was the Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals from 2011 up to 2017.)

Sadang was also a Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court in Cavite City from 2000 to 2011, he added.

Sadang, who previously opted to have his identity withheld, will join PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, retired general and Undersecretary Isagani Neres of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Military Affairs, and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong in the panel.

Abalos earlier said that the committee members were known for their “unquestionable integrity, credibility, and untainted reputation.”

“I am definite that this advisory group shall remain apolitical throughout the process of screening and in the end, penalize only those guilty and involved in the illegal drugs trade,” he added.

With 955 colonels and generals in the national police organization, only 12 officials did not heeded the call for courtesy resignations on or before the Jan. 31 deadline. Five have already retired, while six more will do so soon, leaving only one high-ranking officer who did not turn in his courtesy resignation.

The Azurin-led panel will screen the 943 senior PNP officers to identify those with possible links to the drug trade. The list will be screened again by the National Police Commission – with Abalos as chairperson and Azurin as ex officio commissioner – before it is submitted to the President for his official acceptance or declination of the resignations of PNP’s top brass.

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