PNP has been infiltrated

The Abu Sayyaf, a Moro group involved in kidnapping and mayhem, has infiltrated the top echelons of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and probably the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

How much information police Supt. Ma. Cristina Nobleza has passed on to the Abu Sayyaf is not known, but considering the positions she has held in the PNP, it must have been significant.

Nobleza was one of the interrogators of Abu Sayyaf member Rinierlo Dongon when the latter was arrested in 2013.

Dongon later became her lover.

The PNP’s counterintelligence unit failed miserably in detecting a traitor among the ranks.

A sizable number of firearms, ammunition, hand and rocket-propelled grenades in the hands of Moro and communist rebels once belonged to the PNP and AFP.

Yes, some of them were captured from dead policemen or soldiers and raided police stations.

But a bulk of them were sold or given by soldiers and policemen.

In other words, traitors abound within the AFP and PNP.

Nobleza was no ordinary policewoman; she was a ranking official whose equivalent rank in the Army is that of a lieutenant colonel, who commands a battalion.

If the Abu Sayyaf Group has convinced a ranking officer like Nobleza to join its ranks, there’s no telling whether it has recruited other officers or lower ranking policemen to spy for it.

There should be a thorough background and loyalty check of the officer corps and rank and file members of the AFP and PNP.

Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, PNP chief, has once again failed as a commander and should take full responsibility for the Nobleza scandal.

The killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo by his policemen-abductors right inside Camp Crame was a first big letdown to his commander in chief, President Digong, and now the Nobleza affair.

Either he considers himself indispensable or has a face as thick as a helmet, that’s the reason why the PNP chief doesn’t want to resign.

Dela Rosa should give the President leeway in choosing his replacement.

The President, as I know him, doesn’t dismiss incompetent officials, only corrupt ones.