DoJ recommends charges vs ex-PNP chief Albayalde over ‘ninja cops’
Credit to Author: Jomar Canlas, TMT| Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2020 13:39:25 +0000
THE Department of Justice (DoJ) has recommended the indictment of former Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde and 13 others over the drug raid in Pampanga involving the controversial “Ninja Cops” seven years ago.
The DoJ panel of prosecutors found probable cause to charge Albayalde for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for allegedly “persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting violation of rules and regulations in connection with the official duties of the latter, and causing undue injury to any party, including the government”.
The DoJ cited Albayalde’s failure to implement an order which sought to penalize police officers involved in the drug operation on Nov. 29, 2013.
The panel also recommended the indictment of P/Supt. Raymundo Baloyo, P/Insp. Joven Bagnot De Guzman Jr. ,SPO1 Jules Manlago, SPO1 Donald Roque, SPO1 Ronald Santos, SPO1 Rommel Vital , SPO1 Alcindor Tinio and several others.
They were charged for misappropriation, misapplication or failure to account for the confiscated and seized illegal drugs, planting of evidence, delaying and bungling prosecution of drugs cases, qualified bribery, and graft and corruption.
The DoJ panel also found that Baloyo and his men misdeclared the illegal drugs in their possession by claiming that they seized only 36.60 kilograms of shabu when the actual amount recovered was 200 kilos.
The group also declared that it obtained P300,000 worth of illegal drugs when the real amount was P10 million.
The actual volume of drugs and amount of money seized during the operation were contained in the affidavit of P/S Insp. De Guzman and nine other respondents who failed to declare the Toyota Fortuner that was seized during the operation.
The findings against Albayalde will be endorsed to the Office of the Ombudsman, which has primary jurisdiction over the case.
Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Alexander Suarez, headed the special panel of prosecutors.
Albayalde, who was Pampanga provincial director at the time, resigned from his post, and was placed on floating status four months after the incident.
Baloyo headed the team that raided the house rented by Johnson Lee on Lot 21 and 22 Narra corner Waling Waling Streets, Woodbridge Subdivision, Lakeshore, Barangay Divisoria in Mexico town.
The PNP-CIDG, the complainant to the case, stressed that Baloyo’s team failed to comply with the “chain of custody” mandated by law as it “failed to immediately mark the seized illegal drugs.”
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former PNP chief, said the evidence against Albayalde was “as far as it could go, as shown even during the Senate inquiry.”
“The lesson learned here is that the law does not only have a long arm. It also has a very long memory. Having said that, the surest way for police officers like P/Maj. Baloyo et al to avoid past misdeeds from catching up with them is not to commit those misdemeanors in the first place,” said Lacson. BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO