THE highest-ranking police official tagged in the alleged cover-up of a P6.7-billion drug bust in October 2022 may face stiffer charges than his subordinates, the task force investigating the incident said Sunday.
At a press conference to present the findings of the Special Investigation Task Group 990, the director of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management said the former chief of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, Narciso Domingo, could face stiffer penalties over the mishandling of now-dismissed police master sergeant Rodolfo Mayo Jr.’s case.
Mayo was arrested in October 2022 after authorities confiscated some 990 kilograms of suspected shabu with an estimated value of over P6.7 billion following a series of anti-drug operations in Manila.
Cruz said some police officers allegedly pilfered about 42 kilos of shabu from the illegal drugs seized from Mayo.
As a result, 49 PNP officials and personnel are facing criminal and administrative charges due to their alleged cover-up of the incident.
Cruz said Domingo and five other police officials committed grave neglect of duty “for failure to suppress the criminal act of their respective subordinates.”
Cruz added that Domingo and four others were also allegedly guilty of “incompetence to perform duties of a police officer especially as a PCO or Police Commissioned Officer.”
“The higher the responsibility, the higher the rank, the higher the accountability. You are the commander, you should know what is happening with your men,” Cruz said.
Domingo had denied any cover-up in Mayo’s drug case.
Cruz named Police Capt. Jonathan Sosongco, head of the PDEG Special Operations Unit 4A that time, as the one allegedly directing the pilferage, as seen on CCTV footage.
Cruz said a copy of the task group’s findings would be given to the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, which will file the appropriate charges against the erring policemen.
“Most of them were relieved already from PDEG… Out of the 49, I believe that there are still some of them who are still with the PDEG and that is one of our recommendations for them to be relieved from PDEG,” he added.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. earlier launched a probe led by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) into the issue due to the supposed slow pace of the police investigation.
He said Napolcom’s investigation showed that “there is indeed a massive attempt to cover-up the arrest of Mayo.”
Meanwhile, Senator Ronald Dela Rosa urged PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. to disclose everything he knows regarding the involvement of police officers, including two generals, in the alleged coverup of the P6.7 billion shabu bust in Tondo, Manila last year.
“My advice to him is to face the media, reveal everything he knows and that will put everything to rest. And the speculation about the cover-up, that will stop once he speaks. Because he has the final say in that organization, he is the head of the agency, so he should speak so that everyone will know. It will end all speculations,” he said in Filipino over radio dzBB.
Dela Rosa, a PNP chief in the Duterte administration, said they would meet when he visits Camp Crame Monday morning.
Azurin promised to break his silence on the alleged attempt of PNP top officials to cover up the arrest of Mayo.
Col. Redrico Maranan, PNP spokesperson, said Azurin would give a public statement once all reports surrounding Mayo’s arrest come in.
Abalos has named 11 officials, including two-star generals, allegedly covering up the arrest of Mayo.
Also on Sunday, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez expressed disappointment over the alleged involvement of two PNP generals in a supposed cover-up of irregularities in the seizure of P6.7 billion worth of shabu in 2022.
“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,” he said.
“While an in-depth investigation to ascertain the truth is being undertaken, measures to reorganize the police force’s drug unit should be implemented,” he added.