Magalong fears for family’s safety amid death threats
MANILA, Philippines — Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said Saturday he fears for the safety of his family after receiving death threats when he accused the country’s top cop of intervening in the case of “ninja cops”, or police officers recycling prohibited drugs.
In an interview with DZMM radio, Magalong said he requested additional security from the Philippine National Police after receiving text messages threatening to kill him and his family.
“They would cuss and tell me, ‘Your end is near,’ Magalong said in Filipino. “What worries me is their attempt to contact gun-for-hire groups.”
A Senate hearing earlier this week focused on a questionable drug raid conducted in Mexico, Pampanga on Nov. 29, 2013 involving PNP chief Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde’s subordinates, who were accused of recycling some 160 kilos of shabu. Albayalde was provincial police director of Pampanga at the time.
Magalong, former director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said Albayalde’s men were not dismissed as they should have been.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Aaron Aquino told the Senate panel that Albayalde called him in 2016 about the case of the 13 Pampanga police officers. At the time of the call, Albayalde was the regional director for Metro Manila, while Aquino for Central Luzon.
But Albayalde said he merely asked for the status of the case when he called Aquino.
Albayalde said he is not considering resigning or retiring early after he was grilled at the Senate.
Palace: Duterte monitoring Senate probe
Presidential spokeseperson Salvador Panelo meanwhile said President Rodrigo Duterte has been monitoring developments in the case despite being in Russia for a state visit.
"The president’s unyielding posture against illegal drugs and those who destroy the country, regardless of whether they belong to the government, by spreading these substances in our communities, will not waver," Panelo also said in a statement to media.
He said the president will follow the recommendations of the Department of the Interior and Local Government on the case of the so-called "ninja cops."
"The president, however, will let Congress do and finish its investigation in aid of legislation before taking any formal action on the issue of these ninja cops," Panelo also said. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral with a report from The STAR/Christina Mendez
- Latest
- Trending
