2 policemen moonlighting as drivers axed

Two police officers caught operating “colorum” (unregistered public utility vehicles) in Pasay City last week were ordered relieved from their posts on Friday.

Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde said Chief Insp. Juan Cipriano Jr. of the Southern Police District and Ninoy Aquino International Airport aviation police SPO4 Ronnie Druja have been reassigned to the PNP holding and accounting unit.

Cipriano and Druja were among the dozens netted on April 26 in the Oplan Kamao and Tanggal Bulok, Tanggal Usok joint operations by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and i-ACT in the cities of Parañaque and Pasay.

Unmarked vehicles

A report to LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada said the two were caught ferrying passengers in unmarked vehicles, which even bore stickers of the Office of the President.

They allegedly ferried passengers from Imus to the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay for P50 per head.

Both police officers were flagged down after traffic enforcers spotted their vans, the report said.

Druja was even in uniform and carried his service firearm when he was apprehended.