(Eagle News)–Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde on Friday, Oct. 4, said he believes his name was dragged in the ninja cops controversy because of politics.
“I am retiring. Who’s the next PNP chief here?” he asked in an interview over CNN Philippines.
Albayalde said this could also be a way to discredit whomever he will endorse as the next top policeman.
Albayalde is slated to retire in November.
“They will destroy my reputation, my integrity so that kapag ako ay nag-endorse sa Presidente, that’s a kiss of death already,” he said.
Albayalde has been accused of intervening in the cases filed against the 13 policemen who were found to have conducted an irregular drug raid in Pampanga in 2013.
The 13 policemen were ordered dismissed over the raid in 2014 but the dismissal order was never implemented.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino, who was then the Central Luzon regional director, said Albayalde called him in 2016 and asked him not to implement the order.
Albayalde, who was then the National Capital Region Police Office chief, admitted he called Aquino but said he never influenced the now-PDEA chief into doing anything.
Former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Chief Benjamin Magalong, who exposed the ninja cops issue to senators during a hearing on the Good Conduct Time Allowance law, has already denied he had any motive, noting that the issue only cropped up after Senate Minority Franklin Drilon asked him about it in a “spontaneous” manner during the hearing.
Senate President Tito Sotto has backed Magalong’s statement.