INTERNAL CLEANSING. Interior Secretary Eduardo Año talks to the media about the police scalawags involved in illegal drugs at Camp Crame on Monday (Sept. 23, 2019). He was joined by Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde who promised to continue internal cleansing. (Photo by Christopher Lloyd Caliwan)
MANILA -- Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday urged lawmakers to name those cops allegedly involved in recycling illegal drugs.
Año made his call after former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and now Baguio City mayor Benjamin Magalong reportedly identified the cops and police officials involved in the recycling of illegal drugs in an executive hearing in the Senate last week
In a Senate budget hearing also last week, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino admitted that recycling of seized illegal drugs remains rampant and that the anti-narcotics operatives use the drugs to either sell them or use them as planted evidence in bogus operations.
“It could have been better kung nagkaroon ng (if there is) direct coordination,” Año said in a media interview at Camp Crame.
“You don’t have to go to Senate to announce anything if you want to stop these criminal activities particularly on the operation. So siguro kami dapat ang magusap-usap dito mas mabilis ang aksyon (So, perhaps, we have to talk here for quick action),” he added.
Año assured the Philippine National Police (PNP) is doing its best to enforce the law and ensure public safety by going after scalawags in uniform.
For his part, Philippine National Chief (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde said they are now monitoring rogue cops that appeared in the PNP’s previous watch list.
“The least PDEA should have done was to inform the PNP so that we could have acted upon the information on alleged cops doing drug recycling,” Albayalde said.
Since July 2016, the PNP filed administrative cases against 8,733 uniformed and non-uniformed personnel involved in different illegal activities. Of these cases, 448 PNP personnel were dismissed who were found to be involved in illegal drugs.
Albayalde said the PNP supports the desire of President Rodrigo Duterte to impose stiffer sanctions against PNP members found to be engaged in recycling of drug evidence.
“Pilferage and recycling of drug evidence by members of law enforcement is certainly worse than the crime committed by drug traffickers and therefore should be treated differently, possibly with stiffer punishment,” said Albayalde. (PNA)
