Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino on Monday asked why the Philippine National Police has recalled his 15 police escorts—supposedly for duty during the Southeast Asian Games—when no other government officials have had their security details pulled.
The security pullout comes after Aquino testified before the Senate that corrupt policemen were reselling drugs seized in police raids.
“With the recall, my movement would be restricted,” Aquino said in an interview on radio dzMM.
“Despite that, they did not want to listen to me, and instead they sought explanation from my escorts why they were not yet reporting [to their mother unit],” he said.
“The problem here is that, after a [head] count, the other security escorts were allowed to go back to their VIP assignments, while mine were detailed to other duty assignments,” he said.
“Surprisingly, I [really] don’t know the reason,” he added.
He said President Rodrigo Duterte seemed surprised when he raised the matter to him on Sept. 25.
“The President instructed Senator [Christopher] Go to return my security escorts,” he said.
“So I called them up [escorts] to go back since there was already a verbal instruction from the President,” he added.
He said he trusted his long-time police escorts since he was then the Region 3 director.
PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde earlier said the escorts were pulled out for duty during the Southeast Asian Games, which the Philippines is hosting this year. He added that he ordered a temporary four-member security detail for the PDEA chief, even though under the so-called Alunan doctrine, only two police escorts are allowed.
“I applied [for an exemption] for the Alunan doctrine so I would be allowed to have more than two because of the high risks of death threats. I am encountering enemies everyday. Whether you like it or not, you create foes—the drug lords, the pushers and even the international drug syndicates,” Aquino said.
“And now, there is this issue of the ‘ninja cops.’ Maybe there is friction with the PNP because of this,” he said.
READ: NCRPO to deploy 15,000 cops for SEA Games
