Azurin tells Abalos to nix ‘disinformation’
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. on Monday urged Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. to take a second look at people “who may be feeding him misinformation to cast doubt on the integrity” of the PNP and denied any high-level cover-up of the alleged diversion of confiscated drugs.
In a press conference in Camp Crame, Azurin said Abalos’ accusations against some senior members of the service and insinuations of a coverup were “very unfair.”
“We are accusing generals. What is our evidence?” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Azurin said drug syndicates could be trying to sow discord between the Interior department and the PNP.
Some officers present in drug busts may have been unwittingly compromised by drug syndicates bent on disrupting government, he said.
Abalos last week spoke of a “massive attempt to cover up” the arrest of former police master sergeant Rodolfo Mayo Jr., based on an investigation conducted by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) of the P6.7-billion drug bust in Tondo, Manila in 2022.
Abalos tagged 10 high-ranking policemen in the alleged cover-up.
“While I join the good (Secretary of the Interior and Local Government) in the fight against erring personnel in the police force, let us not lose focus on the real enemy here, which is shabu and the drug syndicates,” Azurin said.
Citing the findings of the PNP’s own special investigation task group led by Police Maj. Gen. Eliseo Cruz, Azurin said they were on the right track, and that they were on the way to identifying the people behind the alleged pilferage of 42 kilos of shabu from the 2022 drug raid in Manila.
The raid led to the arrest of Mayo, who has since been charged and removed from the service.
This has also led to the recommendation of the filing of criminal and administrative cases against 49 cops, including former Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) Director Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo for their involvement in the operation.
“There was no attempt to exculpate MSgt. Rodolfo Mayo from his involvement in the illegal drugs operations. Why start a fact-finding task group in the first place if there was no intent to dig deeper into this drug mess?” Azurin said.
Azurin said pilferage could also have taken place in major drug busts in Pampanga, La Union, and Baguio City.
“Is it not baffling that parcels of shabu keep popping up around the country — particularly in provinces up north — despite the PNP Drug Enforcement Group’s relentless operations?” he said.
Azurin said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has given them intelligence about the involvement of some officers in the recycling of illegal drugs.
They are going after these cops, he added.
The PNP chief said he and Abalos are on the same page in the war on drugs, but he underscored that evidence and credible intelligence should be used to pin down suspects and due process should be observed.
Azurin, who is set to retire on April 24, said he has spoken with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and advised him to choose his successor carefully.
Despite the controversy, he said he leaves behind a better PNP.
“I still dream for a transformed PNP organization — where no PNP officer is involved in the use, possession, manufacture, trade, or selling of illegal drugs.”
Despite Azurin’s denials, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers urged Abalos to dig deeper into the alleged “double coverup” and “double recycling” attempted by police officers in the Oct. 8, 2022 drug raid in Tondo, where 990 kilos of shabu were seized.
Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, said that based on documents and video footage of the incident, the first of the “double coverup” attempt transpired when officers from the PNP-DEG tried but failed to come up with a scheme to “free” Mayo purportedly to be “used” in a follow-up drug sting in Pasig City.
Based on the official report of the PNP-DEG, the arrested team did not include Mayo in the inventory of persons arrested and seized drugs in Tondo, Barbers said.
The second coverup attempt, he said, was when two officers from the PNP-DEG Special Operations Unit 4a – P/SMS Jerrywin Robosura and P/SMS Lorenzo Catarata – were captured on CCTV footage loading two black bags into a white car.
“At first, the reports said the bags only contained 30 kilos of shabu purportedly to be paid out to… ‘assets.’ It turned out the bags contained 42 kilos during an inventory, and if they had succeeded, the two would get “savings” of 12 kilos of shabu.
Barbers said two kilos of shabu, part of the more than 990 kilos of shabu under safekeeping and custody of Mayo, was reportedly seized from him during a drug buy-bust operation against the latter on the same day on Oct. 8, 2022.
The second attempt, he said, was the “stealing” of 42 kilos of shabu from inside Mayo’s WPD lending office that was caught on CCTV video footage, and which was declared officially as only 30 kilos purportedly to be paid out to PNP-DEG “assets,” leaving 12 kilos more of shabu as “savings.”
Barbers said Abalos had been hoodwinked by his police subordinates at the time of the raid.