Albayalde will be invited as Chief of the Philippine National Police and not necessarily because of the November 2013 Pampanga drug raid where Albayalde’s subordinates were arrested and charged.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Oscar Albayalde and other senior police officials are “required” by the Senate to attend the continuation of its investigation on the Bureau of Corrections’ (BuCor) rewarding of good conduct time allowance to its prisoners.
During the hearings, the senators discovered a scheme where rogue cops set aside portions of confiscated illegal drugs and sell these to convicted drug lords locked inside the New Bilibid Prison.
“Definitely, they have to have their day in court if they are the one. Not just the Pampanga incident including other things, it went into several towns e,” Sen. Richard Gordon said.
“All he has to do, if he is given the opportunity, explain himself. Of course he will be subjected to questioning by senators during the public hearing if and when he is invited and if he will attend,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.
But Gordon clarifies, Albayalde will be invited as Chief of the Philippine National Police and not necessarily because of the November 2013 Pampanga drug raid where Albayalde’s subordinates were arrested and charged.
Albayalde was removed from his post as Pampanga provincial director in 2014.
Gordon says PNP officials will be asked to explain why the so-called recycling of drugs by rogue cops persist as detailed by former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
The Senate is expecting an active senior police officer to corroborate Magalong’s report.
Gordon says they will also identify the policemen mentioned in the Magalong report.
“Basta October 1 pinangalanan o hindi ang usapan sa senado, we will report to the public kung sino ang mga taong sinabi,” Gordon said.
Magalong, Albayalde and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino already submitted to President Duterte on Wednesday their respective illegal drugs operations reports.
The Magalong report according to Gordon identified twelve active and two retired senior police officers.
The PNP report meanwhile identified a total of 727 suspected rogue cops.
“Albayalde told (President Duterte) about the so-called ninja cops syndicate and revealed to the president that the ninja cops syndicate is a thing of the past that happened during the previous years of the previous administration,” Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
Panelo says the president is still verifying the confidential reports given to him.
Meanwhile, Gordon plans to grill the PNP over its sudden identification of Guia Gomez-Castro as a supposed “drug queen” amid the rogue cops controversy.
“It could be a diversionary tactic or eliminating a possible witness against senior officials,” Gordon said. (Jasper Camilo)