(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government to probe the claims against Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde, who is set to retire in November.
Interior spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said the President gave the directive for the DILG probe before he left for Russia for an official visit.
The probe would reportedly be conducted after the joint Senate panel hearings on the issue.
“We support the PNP chief but that does not mean we will not do a thorough and fair investigation,” Malaya said.
He said the DILG would consider the joint Senate panel report and statements.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino has said Albayalde, then the National Capital Region Police Office chief, called him in 2016 and asked him about the status of the cases against the 13 policemen.
Former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Benjamin Magalong has said the cases were filed against a CIDG probe found the 13 policemen presented only 30 kilograms of the 200 kilograms of shabu they seized from the raid in Woodridge Subdivision in Mexico, and presented to the media a person different from the one they actually arrested during the raid.
On Thursday’s hearing, Aquino admitted Albayalde actually asked him to not implement the dismissal order.
But Albayalde maintained that while he made the call, he never influenced Aquino into doing anything.