A former police official testified Tuesday that Philippine National Police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde, then a provincial director, intervened in the dismissal of Pampanga policemen for failing to declare 160 kilos of shabu worth P648 million from a drug raid in Mexico, Pampanga in November 2013.
Testifying during a Senate hearing, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, quoted Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino as saying Albayalde called him up when he was still a regional police director of Central Luzon, asking him not to carry out the dismissal order.
When he asked why, Albayalde said that the policemen in question were his people.
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Magalong said Aquino repeated the story to President Rodrigo Duterte in a recent meeting about the “ninja cops” controversy in which crooked policemen recycle drugs seized in police raids to resell for personal profit or to plant as evidence to improve their record of accomplishments.
Aquino, testifying at the same hearing, said he received Albayalde’s phone call in response to questions from the senators.
Magalong, who was sitting beside Aquino, urged Aquino to tell the senators what he had told him.
“Tell them what you told me. Who talked to you?” Magalong told Aquino.
Aquino told the joint hearing chaired by Senator Richard Gordon the incident happened in 2016 when he was regional director for Central Luzon and Albayalde was assigned to Metro Manila.
He said Albayalde, former Pampanga provincial chief, told him to ask for a review of the case because he wanted to know what really happened based on the results of the investigation.
Admitting that the phone conversation took place, Albayalde said he merely asked for the status of the case because the relatives of the policemen were asking him about the case.
“It’s normal but never in one time did I ask for any favor. I was asking for the status [of the case],” Albayalde said.
He emphasized that he could not possibly influence a regional director or an upperclass.
Heeding Albayalde’s request, Aquino said he ordered a review of the case and assigned the erring cops to Mindanao as a form of punishment.
Then PNP chief General Alan Purisima ordered the relief of Albayalde over “command responsibility” in March 2014.
The 13 policemen implicated in the irregular drug operation were charged with grave misconduct and were ordered dismissed.
But Region 3 police chief Amador Corpuz signed an order instead demoting the 13 by one rank in 2017.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the 2013 case was pending automatic review by the Department of Justice.
Since the records are all with them, Guevarra hopes that within a month’s time, a resolution will be issued by the DOJ one way or another.
Before making public his disclosure on Albayalde’s alleged links to illegal drugs, Magalong named the supposed ninja cops in a Senate executive session.
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They are Supt. Rodney Raymundo Baluyo IV, Senior Inspector Joven de Guzman Jr.; Senior Police Officer 1 Jules Maniago, Senior Police Officer 1 Donald Roque, Senior Police Officer 1 Ronald Santos, Senior Police Officer 1 Rommel Vital, Senior Police Officer 1 Alcindor Tinio, Senior Police Officer 1 Eligio Valeroso, Police Officer 3 Dindo Dizon, Police Officer 3 Gilbert De Vera, Police Officer 3 Romeo Guerrero Jr., Police Officer 3 Dante Dizon; and Police Officer 2 Anthony Lacsamana.
The 13 were members of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Force of the Pampanga Provincial Police Office
Except for Santos and Dizon, the other policemen, then assigned at Pampanga Provincial Police Office, were present during the hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon and justice committees.
Magalong told the Senate panel that then PNP chief Alan Purisima directed the PNP-CIDG to investigate the anti-drug operation in Mexico, Pampanga, after getting information that several intelligence officers of the PPPO suddenly acquired new sports utility vehicles.
“He told me, ‘Benjie, investigate this. Just recently there was an operation in Pampanga, 30 kilos of shabu. Suddenly they all have new cars all at the same time,” he said.
Magalong said they investigated the 13 policemen who were directly involved in the drug operation at 10 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2013 in Woodbridge Subdivision, Lakeshore View.
But the raiding team maintained that the raid was carried out 4:30 p.m. of the same day, which caused Gordon to flare up. He said he had three affidavits stating the drug raid was conducted in the morning, contrary to their testimony.
Magalong said they later learned that the volume of shabu seized was about 200 to 238 kilos, not 30 as reported.
Magalong said the street value of shabu at the time was P5,000 to P6,000 per kilo.
He added that after the shabu went missing, the drug flooded the market and prices went down significantly.
Magalong said witnesses said the shabu was stuffed in oversized luggage that was carried by four men.
“The witness could see shabu leaking out. It was all over the stairs. This shows there was no proper handling of evidence, according to our witnesses,” Magalong said in Filipino. “They were also carrying out a box full of cash and bringing it to their vehicle.”
Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, then Region 3 police director, sacked Albayalde, but the case filed against the policemen was weak, Magalong said.
“We conducted our investigation and we made sure we would have a strong case against these respondents.”
Magalong said he retired from the police force with the case still pending. In 2017, he learned that Baluyo and his men were merely demoted.
He said they also found out that the drug trafficker arrested in the raid, Johnson Lee, paid P50 million for his freedom.
The police could not say where Lee is now.
Meanwhile, the National Capital Region Police on Tuesday ordered a probe on rogue police officers who “interfered” in the drug case filed against alleged drug queen Guia Gomez-Castro, which was eventually dismissed.
Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, NCRPO director, said he already tasked the NCRPO intelligence unit, drug enforcement unit and the legal service to work together to investigate the case.
“We want to identify all the policemen who conducted the operation, how the case was filed and who served as witnesses on this case. We will also get the court records on this particular case because from
there, we would be able to find out if there was sabotage in the handling of this case,” Eleazar said when sought for a comment.
Castro was arrested for violating the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972.
An arrest warrant was issued against her on March 1, 2002 but the case was dismissed in 2009.
“We want to know what happened because if this ‘drug queen’ has links with ‘ninja cops’, then it is highly possible that the case was sabotaged in her favor,” the Metro Manila top cop said.
He said erring cops could deliberately file a weak case or policemen serving as witnesses would purposely snub the hearing to pave way for the dismissal of the case.
In exchange, the erring cops would be paid a huge sum of money.
“We have reasons that this modus was also used in favor of the ‘drug queen’. By getting the court records, we can also find out who could be held liable and we assure that we will take action,” Eleazar said.
Castro was allegedly buying confiscated shabu from erring cops.
Castro has a standing arrest warrant for drug charges. She also has warrants of arrest in 2003 and 2011, both for issuing bouncing checks, Eleazar said. With PNA
