Rogue major ‘ninja‘ boss

Albayalde said that of the 22 alleged “ninja cops” being monitored, three are Police commissioned officers while 19 are non-commissioned officers.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is now hot on the trail of 22 “ninja cops” suspected of being involved in the recycling of illegal drugs seized during government operations.

PNP chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde yesterday said the 22 rogue PNP personnel were taken from the original 87 names suspected of having involvement in the illegal drug trade.

Albayalde said of the 22 alleged “ninja cops” being monitored, three are Police commissioned officers (PCO) while 19 are non-commissioned officers (NCO).

The chief PNP bared that the highest-ranking “ninja cop” is a major.

“Of the 87 original ‘ninja cops’ in the government list, 17 are still active, four are AWOL (absent without official leave), 31 have compulsory retired, 16 dismissed from service, one suspended, another four were separated, while two others we don’t have a record,” Albayalde said.

He said the PNP-Intelligence Monitoring Enforcement Group (IMEG) is now conducting “strict monitoring” of these men.

“This is the reason why we established the Intelligence Monitoring Enforcement Group — to monitor these people and intensify counter intelligence efforts being done by our intelligence group,” he added.

Albayalde also admitted that some of the police personnel under watch are assigned at the Manila Police District (MPD).

“There is, we cannot say how many but I can confirm that,” he said.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) earlier said operatives have been targeting a “drug queen” based in Manila who was identified as the one purchasing the illegal drugs from the “ninja cops.”

PDEA director general Undersecretary Aaron Aquino had said that the “drug queen” served as chairwoman in Manila and has a very extensive network in politics and law enforcement agencies.

During a recent Senate hearing, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former director of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), confirmed the existence of rogue policemen involved in recycling of seized illegal drugs.

Magalong even hinted that those who remained in the active service are now “ranking officers.” He revealed the names during an executive session with the senators.

Meanwhile, Albayalde urged the PDEA to respect and maintain an inter-agency courtesy and protocols on mutual cooperation, especially on matters concerning corrupt policemen or police scalawags.

“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. At present, we are constantly monitoring possible rogue cops that appeared in our previous watchlists,” Albayalde said.

He stressed that the PNP is fully supportive of the desire of President Rodrigo Duterte to impose stiffer sanctions against PNP members found engaged in recycling of drug evidence.

“Pilferage and recycling of drug evidence by members of law enforcement are certainly worse than the crime committed by drug traffickers and therefore should be treated differently, possibly with stiffer punishment,” he said.

“The PNP observes rigid rules and procedures to ensure fidelity in the custody of evidence that will be used to prosecute drug suspects. Utmost transparency and accountability are observed in all police operations. As a matter of procedure, anti-drug operations are carried out with proper coordination with proper authorities and agencies,” he added.

At the same time, Albayalde assured the public that they are dead serious in their campaign on internal cleansing.

He also emphasized that anytime that a suspect, whether policeman or not, resists violently, especially with the use of a deadly weapon, police will also use the necessary force to contain or suppress the risk and threat.

Albayalde said as of 20 August 2019, the PNP filed administrative cases against 8,733 uniformed and non-uniformed personnel involved in different illegal activities.

Of these cases, he said 448 PNP personnel have been dismissed.

“The PNP’s campaign on internal cleansing will remain relentless and we will not stop until all rogue cops are weeded out in our organization,” Albayalde said.

“We urge the public to report any wrongdoing of our cops,” he added.

Meanwhile, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año urged those who have information about the “ninja cops” to name names to avoid the perception that all PNP personnel are into illegal activities.

“We should give the names to be specific and the PNP will do the appropriate action… it is not fair for our working and honest policemen that the PNP (as a whole) is in recycling of drugs,” Año said.

“I would like to assure the public that the PNP is always doing its best to serve the country, to enforce the law, to ensure public safety and ensure that peace and order is maintained in any parts of the country,” he added.

The DILG chief said efforts are being made to identify policemen who are in cahoots with drugs syndicates through silent intelligence work.

“We are doing it silently and suddenly it goes controversial, so you are just alerting these people to be careful and watchful of their actions,” he said.

“Anytime we can talk, send a representative or through conferences. You don’t have to go to the Senate or other public forum if we really want to stop all these criminal activities particularly on illegal drug operations,” he added.