Senators tell DILG: Make an example of 18 PNP execs ASAP

To serve as a deterrent to their colleagues, the 18 officials of the Philippine National Police who were forced to leave the service due to their alleged links to the drug trade should be charged administratively and criminally, senators said on Wednesday.

“The full force of the law should be applied to them to serve as a warning to others. Otherwise, we will continue to hear and see this (problem) over and over again,” Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said.

He expressed confidence that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) would do the “right thing” in going after those behind the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country.

“(The acceptance of their resignations) is a good first step. But there should be follow-up steps,” Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. told the Inquirer. “The PNP and the DILG should not stop in gathering evidence to meet the burden for the criminal prosecution so that those involved should be made accountable.”

For Senators Francis Escudero, JV Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada, seeking the criminal indictment of the 18 high-ranking policemen was the “logical” thing to do.

“They should be charged accordingly for the crimes they have (allegedly) committed,” Ejercito said.

“Follow the evidence. If good enough for criminal conviction, then they should file the cases,” Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III added.

Generals, colonels

President Marcos accepted the courtesy resignations of the 18 PNP officials on Tuesday, a day after he said in his State of the Nation Address that he would remove from the police service “unscrupulous law enforcers and others involved in the highly nefarious drug trade.”

Of the 18, two of the three highest-ranked officers were Brigadier Generals Remus Medina and Randy Peralta, both of whom served as chief of the PNP’s primary drug enforcement unit, the Drug Enforcement Group.

The others were former Caraga regional police office director Brig. Gen. Pablo Labra II and Colonels Rogarth Campo, Rommel Ochave, Rommel Velasco, Robin Sarmiento, Fernando Ortega, Rex Derilo, Julian Olonan, Rolando Portera, Lawrence Cajipe, Dario Menor, Joel Kagayed Tampis, Michael David, Igmedio Bernaldez, Rodolfo Albotra Jr. and Marvin Sanchez.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos earlier said the government was still studying whether to file charges against the police officers who would remain under constant monitoring. Upon their relief, they were to be placed on floating status to prevent them from “exerting further influence and/or performing illegal activities using their positions,” according to the PNP.

Tight-lipped

Central Visayas police officials, on the other hand, had no comment about the inclusion of at least six of their officers among the 18 currently in hot water.

Only Ochave, however, is still assigned with the Police Regional Office 7 (PRO-7) as director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office. The five others—Medina, Labra, Derilo, Albotra and Sanchez—have since been deployed to other police offices.

PRO-7 spokesperson Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare told reporters at a briefing in Cebu City that they have yet to receive any official communication from the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame or the DILG regarding Ochave. Until then, he would remain the Cebu provincial police director, Pelare said.

The 18 PNP officers were among 953 generals and colonels who turned in their courtesy resignations in January to give way to a three-month-long screening process conducted by a five-man independent panel tasked to look into their possible drug links. Abalos had warned then that those who fail the screening would be booted out of the service, upon the approval of the President.