LOCAL Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla yesterday said a review of all PNP investigations on drug hauls from 2016 to 2022 will be held after the recent filing of criminal charges against 30 policemen for alleged mishandling and planning of evidence in a high-profile drug case.
Remulla, in a briefing in Malacañang, said they are currently looking into “what appears to be a grand conspiracy to conceal a criminal enterprise” in the PNP.
“It is our theory that this goes all the way to 2016, it has become an institutional practice since 2016 until it was discovered in 2022. It seems that it became a standard procedure by some elements of the PNP,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.
He said it has not been proven yet, but added that cops, during drug hauls and arrests, report only a portion of the confiscated illegal drugs while the bulk of the illegal substances are kept in storage.
Cops who reported the drug hauls are recognized, show an accomplishment, and given a reward for what they reported.
“That’s why, I said, a grand conspiracy of a criminal enterprise,” Remulla said, adding the probe “will go back to 2016 all the way down to 2022.”
Remulla said it must be inherent in the institution that the responsibility of being an officer of the law comes with the power but also does make you impervious to prosecution.
‘’We have pursued the fullness of this case on an administrative level, however, the final determination of criminal liability rests with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the courts concerned,’’ he added.
During the Duterte administration from 2016 to 2022, the PNP intensified its campaign against illegal drugs which has allegedly claimed thousands of lives and resulted in human rights violations and abuse of power by some authorities.
The DOJ yesterday said charges will be filed against 30 policemen, including two generals, for violating Republic Act (RA) 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, particularly on the planting of evidence under Section 29 and the delay and bungling in the prosecution of drug cases under Section 92.
The respondents included a former PNP Deputy Chief for Operations and a former chief of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG).
The case was filed over the recovery of 990 kilograms of shabu worth P6.7 billion in Manila in October 2022 that involved dismissed Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo Jr. and a certain Ney Atadero.
Mayo, who served as an intelligence officer for the PDEG, was dismissed on March 21, 2023 on three counts of grave misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a police officer.
National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) Vice Chairman and Executive Officer Ricardo Bernabe III, in the same briefing, said their investigation of Mayo’s drug case showed some glaring inconsistencies in the police narrative about the incident.
The probe also revealed that some arresting officers failed to report and properly document the buy-bust operation where Mayo was arrested and excluded his involvement in the seizure of the 990 kilograms of drugs at the Wealth and Personal Development (WPD) Lending office in Tondo that Mayo owned.
Bernabe said that based on closed circuit television (CCTV) footage presented by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Mayo was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Bambang on October 8 but a “staged” arrest on October 9 was made in an attempt by police to address irregularities.
He said footage also showed some high-ranking officials of the PNP arriving at the WPD Lending office after the discovery of the illegal drugs, including Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo and Lt. Gen. Benjamin Santos.
He said various CCTV footage also showed several policemen hauling away pieces of luggage supposedly containing several kilos of shabu from the WPD lending office which were “recovered” days later near Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Bernabe said after Napolcom’s finding, including the “staged” operations, the Napolcom en banc resolved to dismiss 21 respondent-policemen from service, demote 16 respondents, suspend four respondents for six months and dismiss cases of 12 respondents.
He said the en banc also recommended the dismissal from the service of three presidential appointees, which is “subject to the confirmation by the Office of the President.”
“Relative to the administrative case against Lt. Gen. Santos, the summary dismissal proceedings against him were suspended on the count of a writ of preliminary injunction issued by Judge Alice Gutierrez Branch 193 of Marikina City Regional Trial Court.”
Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said there is strong evidence to warrant a conviction.
“We have this new policy in the department now, we only make sure that the cases that were elevated in court are cases which will be able to withstand rigorous trials and end up in eventual conviction…we are confident that we will be able to muster a conviction for all those charged,” he said.
He said charges have already been filed before the Manila Regional Trial Court against Mayo and Atadero based on the staged anti-illegal drugs operations in 2022.
Fadullon, however, said that because of the recent findings on the operations, the DOJ is considering withdrawing the initial charges that were filed before the RTC in 2022 against Mayo and Atadero pending a review.
“After reviewing the evidence that was presented which resulted in the filing of the cases for the bungling and planting of evidence, we believe and we are seriously considering the possibility of withdrawing these cases because it would now appear that these cases were filed based on false allegations and fallacious evidence,” he said.
He said there is also a need to look at the situation or the circumstances surrounding the recovery.
‘’So, all depends on the evidence that will be submitted to us, we will make the necessary assessment and if we are convinced that there is a need to include other personalities we will do so,’’ he added.
PNP REFORMS
Remulla is eyeing an amendment to the PNP Reform and Organization Act of 1998 to avoid a repeat of the incident.
He said the case of Mayo and the other policemen shows the need for some specialization, especially among the ranking officers, to better handle their positions and mandate.
‘’Ang gusto namin magkaroon ng institutional memory ang bawat department, from drug enforcement to cybercrime to administration to investigation… dapat specialized na talaga ang mga policemen (We want each department to have an institutional memory from drug enforcement to cybercrime to administration to investigation. The cops should be specialized),” he said.
RESTRICTIVE CUSTODY
PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil has ordered that 22 of the 30 cops recently indicted by the Department of Justice over the 2022 incident be kept in restrictive custody.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame yesterday, PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said eight of the 30 policemen are no longer in the service – five have retired, two were dismissed, and one had resigned.
“Twenty-two are still in the active service and before proceeding here (at the press conference), I asked the Chief PNP as to his guidance in relation to the 22 active personnel,” said Fajardo.
“He has given instruction to his staff to place under restrictive custody these 22 active PNP personnel,” said Fajardo.
Fajardo said the 22 policemen will also be disarmed, pending the possible issuance of arrest warrants against them.
Fajardo said the policemen will be allowed to answer the charges filed against them.
The 30 policemen, including Santos, were charged with planting evidence and bungling the case.
Fajardo said the PNP supports the DOJ investigation and findings, leading to the filing of the charges against the 30 personnel.
Fajardo said such acts are not sanctioned by the PNP leadership.
“No chief PNP, whether during the present administration or previous administration, will allow such an illegal scheme,” said Fajardo.
“We have dismissed many police regardless of their rank. So if there are similar incidents like the issue of the 990 kilos (of seized shabu), then we are open to an investigation,” said Fajardo.
PNP UPDATE NEEDED
The Court of Appeals has directed the PNP to submit an update on its investigation into the 2016 anti-drug operation in Quezon City involving Efren Morillo who survived by playing dead while his four companions were shot dead by cops.
In a six-page resolution promulgated last January 3, the appellate court’s Former Special Fourteenth Division, through Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr., held the reports furnished by the PNP in 2017 “were by no means final and complete” to apprise the petitioners of what happened that fateful day of August 21, 2016, nor were they adequate to inform them of the actions taken by the PNP against police officers involved in the said incident.
To recall, Morillo sought protection from the court after surviving the 2016 operation in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City, where four others were shot dead in the police raid.
He refuted police claims that he fought it out with authorities and that he was involved in the narcotics trade.
The four fatalities were Raffy Gabo, Anthony Comendo, Marcelo Daa, Jr., and Jessie Cule.
Morillo survived despite sustaining gunshot wounds by rolling down a garbage heap, remaining motionless for some time, and pretended to be dead.
“Wherefore, the Philippine National Police through the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management is directed to inform the Court whether or not the investigation of the subject incident has been completed,” the CA said.
The appellate court said it is keeping a close watch on the PNP probe on the case, citing recent developments, including an investigation into the anti-drug war of the then Duterte administration that human rights groups said resulted in the deaths of more than 30,000.
“A great deal has happened in the past eight years. For instance, in 2018, the Supreme Court, in Almora v. Dela Rosa, noted the unusually high number of deaths related to the purported “war on drugs” and ordered the PNP to produce information and documents to help it ascertain whether or not the conduct of operations was done in the performance of official functions. The Supreme Court also rebuked the argument that these information and documents involved state secrets affecting national security, declaring that these only related to routine police operations involving violations of laws against the sale or use of illegal drugs,” the CA said.
It added that in 2019, the Court, in Veloso v. Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, also issued a writ of habeas data in relation to the former President’s practice of publishing a “narco-list” to implicate certain individuals alleged to be involved in the illegal drug trade instead of commencing investigation, interdiction, apprehension, and prosecution processes pursuant to criminal laws and procedure.
“More recently, legislative hearings and inquiries before the House of Representatives and the Senate revealed more evidence on the reported irregularities and human rights violations committed under the guise of the ‘war on drugs.’ Former president Duterte and now senator Ronald dela Rosa also appeared during these hearings,” it said.
“There is also a pending application with the International Criminal Court in the matter of the liabilities of certain persons concerning the numerous killings in the ‘war on drugs,’” it added.
Given these recent developments, the CA said it is exercising its jurisdiction to monitor the implementation of its 2017 resolution. – With Victor Reyes and Ashzel Hachero