PROBERS have recommended a reorganization of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) and the retraining of its personnel in the aftermath of the controversial seizure of 990 kilos of shabu worth P6.7 billion last October in Manila.
The Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) 990 also recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against relieved PDEG director Brig. Gen. Narcisco Domingo and 48 other PDEG personnel.
Speaker Martin Romualdez also called for the reorganization of the PDEG, saying: “While an in-depth investigation to ascertain the truth is being undertaken, measures to reorganize the police force’s drug unit should be implemented.”
The findings and recommendations of the task group were presented by the SITG 990 chief, PNP director for investigation and detective management Maj. Gen. Eliseo Cruz, during a press conference at the PNP national headquarters at Camp Crame yesterday.
Last Saturday, Cruz told the media they were recommending criminal and administrative charges against Domingo and other officials in connection with the raid at the WPD Lending Inc. firm in Tondo, Manila last October 8 but did not provide details.
The firm is owned by now dismissed PDEG operative M/Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., who was nabbed with two kilos of shabu worth P13.6 million in a hot pursuit operation the following day.
Yesterday, Cruz said the PDEG personnel violated provisions of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, the Revised Penal Code in the conduct of the operation, and a National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) memorandum circular.
Specifically, Cruz said Domingo, Col. Rolando Portera, Col. Julian Olonan, Lt. Col. Arnulfo Ibañez, Lt. Jonathan Sosongco and Lt. Ashrap Amerol committed grave neglect of duty.
Cruz added that Domingo, Portera, Olonan, Ibañez, and Sosongco were also liable for “incompetence to perform duties of a police officer.”
Last week, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. urged 10 police officers, including Domingo, Olonan, Ibañez, Sosongco and Amerol, to go on leave pending a wider NAPOLCOM probe. He made the appeal after disclosing “massive attempts” to cover up the arrest of Mayo.
Another officer Abalos asked to take a leave of absence was former PNP deputy chief for operations Lt. Gen. Benjamin Santos Jr., who is currently assigned with the office of the PNP chief.
Abalos ordered the NAPOLCOM investigation last month, dissatisfied with the probe of the SITG, which began its probe on October 17.
Apart from filing criminal and administrative charges against Domingo and other PDEG personnel, the STIG 990 recommended the reorganization of PDEG “based on the peculiarities of anti-illegal drugs operations including but not limited to conduct of investigation, operation, post-operation and filing of cases.”
“Conduct of retraining of PDEG frontline personnel in the conduct of crime scene investigation with emphasis on Section 21 (of) RA 9165,” Cruz said.
The section is about the “Custody and Disposition of Confiscated, Seized, and/or Surrendered Dangerous Drugs, Plant Sources of Dangerous Drugs, Controlled Precursors and Essential Chemicals, Instruments/Paraphernalia and/or Laboratory Equipment.”
The task group also recommended the conduct of “financial investigation and lifestyle check” on PDEG personnel every six months.
“Limit the assignment of personnel of PDEG to a maximum of three years after basic training,” Cruz said.
He said the PNP Intelligence Group (IG) and PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group “should strengthen the conduct of vetting processes of personnel that will be assigned to PDEG.
“PDEG should strictly implement and observe the rule on body worn cameras,” Cruz said, adding IG should “validate” PDEG accomplishments immediately after every operation.
Cruz said police personnel suspected to be involved in illegal drugs should be assigned to units and offices performing administrative functions not related to the campaign against illegal drugs.
Cruz also said all the involved personnel should be relieved from PDEG. Domingo was relieved as PDEG director last Wednesday, two days after tendering his leave of absence in response to Abalos’ call.
Cruz said many of the involved personnel have been removed from PDEG but added some are still assigned with the unit as of yesterday.
He said the investigation body also recommended that the IG and PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group should “exert all efforts” to locate other illegal drugs that may have been taken by PDEG operatives after the raid at the lending firm.
Officials said 42 kilos of the seized drugs were taken by some PDEG personnel supposedly as a reward to informants who provided information that led to the raid. The pilfered drugs were later returned after an initial probe.
“The CIDG should continue the conduct of case build-up to further strengthen the criminal cases that will be filed,” Cruz said.
Cruz said a memorandum has been sent to the chiefs of the CIDG and PNP Internal Affairs Service for the filing of criminal and administrative raps against the PDEG personnel involved.
Cruz said he wants the body to continue with its probe, noting that “there are other facts that should be established.”
He said they want to look into the purported cash, supposedly recovered at the lending firm, that went missing.
DISMAYED
In a statement, Romualdez said: “I am dismayed and saddened to learn that some of those accused of alleged involvement are members of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, the very same people tasked to go after peddlers of illegal drugs.”
A congressional probe has been sought in the Senate while Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chair of the House committee on dangerous drugs, has called on police assets to come forward and shed light on the matter.
“The investigation into these allegations must be swift and thorough. Let the ax fall where it must because police involvement in this alleged cover-up, especially anti-drug operatives, cannot and should not be tolerated. It would also be ideal to hear the statement of PNP Chief Gen. Azurin on the matter. Let us wait for official announcements before jumping to conclusions,” Romualdez said.
Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto said police officers who participate in drug busts must be made to wear body cameras, so that a video recording of the operation “will aid in prosecuting suspects, commend deserving officers, and deter those caught, and their coddlers, from bribing their way to freedom.”
Recto said that “a widely available and affordable device which is the camera” can preserve “a hard to refute documentation” of drug arrests.
“Whether the narcotics seized weigh one kilo or one ton, a video recording is the best receipt there is. It’s better if there’s an undeniable receipt. As they say, cams on bodies and dashcams on vehicles,” he said.
He said in piecing together an operation, authorities should stop relying on “lamppost CCTVs” and instead source the footage from equipment they carry before, during and after the operation.”
The presence of bodycams, he said, would serve as a deterrent against any attempt by suspects and their backers to buy the freedom of the arrested, Recto said. — With Wendell Vigilia
