Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. on Wednesday said that the National Police Commission (Napolcom) would release in two days the results of its assessment of police officials’ possible link to the illegal drug trade.
Last April 25, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced that 917 out of the 953 police officers who submitted their courtesy resignations had been cleared by the five-member team tasked to assess the officials’ drug ties.
The findings of the five-man panel went through further scrutiny by Napolcom, while the remaining 36 police officers also underwent further probe.
Abalos said the results of these assessments will be released in two to three days.
“Just give us about two days so that all legalities ma-cover namin dito (will be covered). We want that when we make a statement talagang airtight ang lahat na ito (everything is airtight),” the Department of the Interior and Local Government chief said in a media briefing.
“[N]ag-usap na kami ng Napolcom (I already talked to Napolcom). I want to reassure the public that there will really be a house cleansing, but we also want to make sure na talagang lahat ng legalities ay na-observe natin rito (that all legalities are covered),” he added.
According to Abalos, they will release a statement covering how many resignations were accepted and rejected.
Likewise, Abalos said that Napolcom has yet to release the results of its investigation on the P6.7 billion drug haul case.
“We are waiting on that pero yun namang ginawa ng Napolcom dito sa 900 kilos [of shabu] hindi pa rin tapos ito. Siguro just a few more weeks matatapos na rin kami rito,” he said.
(We are waiting on the results, but what Napolcom is doing, in this case, is still ongoing. In a few more weeks, we will finish the investigation.)
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