Police Brigadier General Narciso Domingo, PNP Chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Benhur Abalos Jr. and Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna during press conference in Camp Crame, Quezon City about the “the biggest drug haul in the country’ – 990 kilograms and 102 grams of suspected shabu amounting to P 6.7 billion pesos in Tondo, Manila. They arrested 9 suspects including Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo who is an intel officer for the PNP Drug Enforcement Group. INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
Police Lt. Gen. Benjamin Santos Jr., the recently sacked deputy chief for operations of the Philippine National Police, on Friday denied his involvement in the alleged cover-up of irregularities committed by lawmen in connection with the seizure of P6.7 billion worth of crystal meth (shabu) in October last year.
Accompanied by his lawyer, Winston Ginez, Santos showed up at a press conference at Camp Crame in Quezon City, maintained his innocence, and criticized Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos for denying him due process to explain his role during the Oct. 8, 2022 operation.
“Relying only on CCTV footage with no due process or further consultations, Secretary Abalos, however well-meaning he may have been, implicated my name in the purported regular buy-bust operation,” the three-star general said.
“I strongly deny any involvement in whatever impropriety or infraction of law or standard operating procedures, if there are any, in the alleged cover-up in the buy-bust operation,” he added.
Santos was the highest among the 10 ranking PNP officials whom Abalos demanded to take a leave of absence or face suspension, to give way to the fact-finding inquiry of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) on the “massive cover-up attempt” of the involvement of cops in the seizure of 990 kilos of shabu on Oct. 8, 2022, and an attempted pilfering of confiscated drugs days after by officers of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (DEG).
Santos, however, was “confused” about how he would carry out the order of Abalos, noting that he was already put on floating status since February, and could no longer influence the ongoing investigation.
On Feb. 22, PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. named Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo as deputy chief for operations—the third-highest position in the PNP—replacing Santos, who was reassigned to the Office of the Chief PNP as part of the PNP’s “regular revamp.”
Santos said he was also not privy to the real reason for his relief. He will bow out of his 32 years of service on Oct. 9, 2023, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56.
In a press conference on Monday at the Department of the Interior and Local Government main office in Quezon City, Abalos showed a CCTV footage where some PNP officers were seen on the site on the day of the drug raid at the Wealth and Personal Development Lending Inc. (WPDLI) office in Tondo, Manila.
The company is owned by Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., an intelligence officer of the Drug Enforcement Group’s Special Operations Unit in the National Capital Region.
CCTV footage
Abalos, who is the ex-officio chair of the Napolcom, questioned why the DEG lied in its reports that it only arrested Mayo the next day, on Oct. 9, 2022, during a manhunt on Quezon Bridge in Manila’s Quiapo district.
In the CCTV footage shown to reporters, police officers were seen releasing the handcuffs of Mayo before he entered the company’s building at least four times on the day of the raid.
The DILG chief was also puzzled why Mayo was even listed as an arresting officer in a different drug operation later the same day when he had already been caught in an earlier buy-bust operation.
Aside from Santos, the other PNP officials seen in the CCTV footage that covered 11:58 a.m. to 7:50 p.m. of Oct. 8 were: Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo, Col. Julian Olonan, Lt. Col. Arnulfo Ibañez, Lt. Col. Glenn Gonzales, Lt. Col. Harry Lorenzo, Maj. Michael Angelo Salmingo, Capt. Randolph Piñon, Capt. Jonathan Sosongco and Lt. Ashrap Amerol.
Also seen in the video entering the WPDLI office were DEG officers Master Sgt. Lorenzo Catarata, Senior Master Sgt. Jerrywin Rebosora, Staff Sgt. Arnold Tibay and Patrolman Peter Gular.
During the day of the operation, Santos explained he was celebrating his 55th birthday when he was called by Azurin to proceed to the WPDLI. He arrived at the scene around 6:20 p.m., around two hours after the buy-bust was already consummated, and left around 7:40 p.m.
READ: DILG chief unveils ‘massive attempt to cover up’ dismissed cop Mayo’s arrest