The Palace said Thursday it sees nothing wrong with the retirement offer made by the Philippine National Police to the policemen included in the drug watchlist, saying those policemen are not yet off the hook and will still face charges.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo made the statement after PNP chief Archie Gamboa announced that 15 of the 357 cops in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug list had decided to retire early after being given the chance to do so.
“Giving them the retirement option doesn’t mean they won’t be prosecuted if there is evidence that they have been involved in drugs, Panelo told reporters.
“If there is evidence against you, you will still face charges, and by getting that retirement you are admitting you’re involved…If you retired, then it means you are involved.”
Gamboa on Wednesday said he allowed a one-star general in the controversial drug list of Duterte to retire early and avail himself of benefits.
“I told them this is a final option for you, because once we send you to the validation committee, anything that’s going to happen in the process, you can’t blame me anymore. I already gave you a chance,” Gamboa told reporters.
Meanwhile, Duterte said Wednesday there were only four remaining rogue cops and generals in the PNP who resell illegal drugs captured during police operations, and warned that they would end up dead because of their “sins.”
The President said he was detemined to kill those “ninja” cops following the revelation that Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido, the controversial police officer who gained notoriety in the government’s anti-drug campaign, was included in his drug list.
“My sworn duty is not to protect the people who are into drugs. My sworn duty is to protect the people and preserve the Republic of the Philippines,” Duterte said during the oath-taking of the officers of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas.
“They [drug syndicates] have runners… the generals and ninja cops. They are still around but they have been reduced to about four, and they will all die because they have sins to the nation.”
Panelo could not tell yet if Espenido had a scheduled meeting with President Duterte.
Espenido made the headlines when two suspected narco-politicians ended up dead in the towns where he was police chief.
He was the chief of police of Albuera when the drug-linked mayor Rolando Espinosa was shot dead inside his jail cell in 2016. A year later, as Ozamiz police chief, Espenido led the drug raids that led to the killing of mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and several others.
On Feb. 5, Espenido was relieved by the Philippine National Police as Bacolod City police chief and was transferred to the Office of the PNP chief in Camp Crame.
In his speech, Duterte said he was ready to shoot the rogue policemen even if he was no longer in power.
“I would shoot them if I [saw] them, whether president or ordinary. If I see them and I know they are angry with me because of drugs, we will really end up shooting each other,” he said.
More than 5,000 drug suspects have died since Duterte launched his brutal war on narcotics in 2016, which has been criticized by both local and international groups who claimed that there have been police abuses and the number of the dead was much higher.