PNP chief ‘drops ball’

I did not pull my punches even on Albayalde. I told him he should be held accountable.

“He is protecting his people in a very unjust manner” was how Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee chairman Sen. Richard Gordon summed up Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde’s culpability in the “ninja cop” scandal involving his former subordinates in the Pampanga Regional Police Office.

“I did not pull my punches even on Albayalde. I told him he should be held accountable. He should own up to the problem he has created. Everybody is against him. He is the only one who is saying it is in the afternoon,” Gordon said referring to the recounting of the controversial police operation.

“And he just took the word of his people. At the very least, it is a flip shot in performing his duties, but at the same time it can be seen as his trying to protect his people in a very unjust manner,” he added.

The senator added the case should be reinvestigated to include Albayalde’s involvement in it.

He said the PNP chief definitely “dropped the ball” in his stint as provincial director as he should have known the operations of his subordinates.

“He should know what the procedures are, and there was an operation going on but he didn’t care. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, he was negligent, but like I said if I were going to be all out, I could not accept that. That was a drug operation. Every step of the way, he should monitor that,” Gordon explained.

Albayalde said he is willing to face a probe on the “ninja cops” issue, but maintained he did not try to influence Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino when he called him to allegedly ask for the status of the case.

Gordon, nonetheless, wanted a complete investigation to settle the traded allegations as it involved a huge amount of drugs. He added it could grow into a criminal case “if pieces of evidence are sufficient.”

“Yes, it should include him. There should be a fair and impartial investigation,” he said. Asked if the charges could be administrative, Gordon replied: “It could be criminal.”

The senator maintained if Albayalde insists on his ignorance, he should have appealed the order to be relieved from service.

Gordon also said he might finish a report on the probe by Monday and that he will issue separate reports on the Good Conduct Time Allowance and the alleged “ninja cops” topics.

On the other hand, former Central Luzon regional police chief Raul Petrasanta said in a radio interview that the drug operation called “kalawit” was conducted by the erring cops to extort money.

Petrasanta, who ordered the floating status of the 13 cops and directed Albayalde to be relieved from service, added that the buy-bust conducted was suspicious.

Moreover, he explained that Albayalde was not aware of the documents of the operation, but he indicated dismay over the PNP chief’s remarks on the issue.

He believed he should not be invited to the Senate hearing.

Gordon has suspended the probe indefinitely, saying he will still look if they have sufficient testimonies before they conclude the investigation.

Albayalde has no direct involvement in the alleged irregular buy-bust operation conducted by 13 alleged “ninja cops” in Pampanga in 2013, a former police official said.

Retired Brig. General Manuel Gaerlan, who was assigned to validate the accomplishment of the 13 Pampanga policemen who conducted the buy-bust in Mexico, Pampanga in 2013, said Albayalde had no direct involvement in the operations and that the cops involved faked their spot report.

“To continue, our investigation, in fairness to General Albayalde, there was no evidence or testimony implicating him, that is why the recommendation of our committee was to relive him,” Gaerlan said.

Albayalde was relieved due to command responsibility, Gaerlan added.

The former police official in Region III said the operation of PSupt. Rodney Raymundo Louie Baloyo along with his subordinates, P/S Insp. Joven B. de Guzman Jr., SPO1 Jules Lacap Maniago, SPO1 Donald Castro Roque, SPO1 Ronald Bayas Santos, SPO1 Rommel Munoz Vital, SPO1 Alcindor Mangiduyos Tinio, SPO1 Dante Mercado Dizon, SPO1 Eligio Dayos Valeroso, PO3 Dindo Singian Dizon, PO3 Gilbert Angeles de Vera, PO3 Romeo Encarnacion Guerrero and PO2 Anthony Loleng Lacsamana was a mere coverup.

“I saw there that what they claimed they seized more or less 36 kilograms of shabu and the report submitted by the office of Baloyo, through the provincial director, and reached the regional office, I am telling you that it was all lies,” he said.

“Their spot report, that was a fraud. That was an attempt to cover up what really happened in the morning.”