PNP chief: Michael Yang not in drugs watchlist

PNP chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential economic adviser Michael Yang is not included in the drugs watchlist, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde said on Tuesday, March 26.

“As far as the PNP is concerned, Michael Yang is not included in any watchlist or investigation of person with links to illegal drugs,” he said in a press conference at Camp Crame.

Dismissed Police Col. Eduardo Acierto on Sunday (March 24) claimed that he had submitted to the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reports on the alleged links to illegal drugs of Yang and Allan Lim, another Chinese national.

Albayalde, however, maintains that since he assumed leadership of the PNP in April 2018, he does not remember having received any copy of Acierto’s supposed reports.

“I would like to categorically debunk allegations made by dismissed Police Col. Eduardo Acierto that I failed to act accordingly on an intelligence report that he purportedly submitted when he was still in the service with the defunct Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force,” Albayalde said.

He said that Acierto should have acted on the supposed information he received even without clearance if he had indeed received “actionable intelligence.”

Albayalde also suspects that Acierto could be throwing allegations in a “vain attempt” to muddle the ongoing probe resulting from his indictment in the shabu magnetic lifter smuggling case.

“My advice for him is to ‘man up’ and face the charges squarely rather than shoot from the hip with indiscriminate accusations,” Albayalde said.  /muf

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