Sacked cop tasked to lead new antidrug force

Senior Supt. Albert Ignatius Ferro —JOAN BONDOC

“Some guys are lucky but not so competent. Some guys are unlucky but very competent,” Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa said on Tuesday, defending his decision to bring back a canned officer as head of the PNP’s new narcotics force.

Senior Supt. Albert Ignatius Ferro was the chief of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (ADG) that President Rodrigo Duterte ordered dissolved in October last year after officers of the unit were involved in the kidnapping and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.

The entire ADG was fired, and criminal charges were brought against the officers involved in the crime.

Ferro was sacked, too, under the principle of command responsibility.

New job

But after Mr. Duterte ordered the PNP back to his war on drugs, Dela Rosa formed a new narcotics force—the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (DEG)—and put Ferro in charge of it.

Explaining his decision to reporters on Tuesday, the PNP chief said Ferro was not directly involved in the murder of Jee and was “even instrumental in the resolution of the case.”

“Maybe one year after he was relieved, he has learned his lesson well. He will no longer get personnel who are not trustworthy. My instructions to him is to coordinate with the director for intelligence for the vetting process of the personnel he will get for the PNP-DEG,” Dela Rosa said.

He described Ferro as a “very competent” officer who “got unlucky” because of “rogues” in the ADG.

Ferro, he said, “deserves another chance.”

Dela Rosa said Ferro had established links with foreign narcotics forces, including in the United States, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and countries in Southeast Asia, which would be vital to the Philippine campaign against illegal drugs.

‘He can really deliver’

“I am after how the PNP-DEG will perform now that we are back in the war on drugs. I need someone who can steer this group to a higher level. I need someone who will perform and deliver and I know him (Ferro), he can really deliver given his track record,” Dela Rosa said.

Addressing critics of his choice of Ferro, the PNP chief said: “Criticize me, not Ferro, because that is my decision.”

Dela Rosa has also renamed “Oplan Tokhang” and “Oplan Double Barrel,” the two PNP operations that have become synonymous with extrajudicial killing because of the thousands of suspects killed by police in drug raids.

The operations are now called “Oplan Tokhang Petitioned” and “Oplan Double Barrel Cautioned.”

Dela Rosa explained, joking: “Petitioned” because Tokhang has been challenged in the Supreme Court. “Cautioned” because drug operations will now be carried out more cautiously.

‘What’s in a name?’

He said Director General Aaron Aquino of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)—the lead agency in the war on drugs—had suggested that the PNP drop “Tokhang” from the campaign’s name, but the PNP decided to stick to its guns.

“His suggestion is well taken. But what’s in a name? What is important is the result, what happens in your campaign regardless of the name,” Dela Rosa said.

“If you change your campaign’s name, you are trying to deodorize it to make it acceptable to critics. But the critics will always find something for which to criticize you. They will still make up stories. Changing the name is the least of my concerns,” he said.

Dela Rosa gave assurance that the “third edition” of the police campaign against drugs would be “more refined,” after revisions of perceived flaws in the earlier operations.

“Expect more caution” on the part of narcotics agents, he said, adding that the PNP was gathering inputs from its personnel to improve the campaign.

Dela Rosa said his initial instruction for the return of the PNP to the war on drugs was to “make sure that our operations are not infiltrated by syndicates.”