To get rid of ‘less than 5’ top cops in drug trade, over 900 senior officials told to quit
MANILA, Philippines — Over 900 top cops have been told to quit to supposedly cleanse the police force of links to illegal drugs, but by Philippine National Police chief Rodolfo Azurin’s own assessment, there might be only “less than five” high-ranking police officers involved in the drug trade.
While Azurin said during a news conference on Thursday that his estimate might be wrong, this still painted a completely different picture than what Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos tried to portray the day before, when he said the police force suffered from a “deep infection” of the drug trade.
Despite the stark contrast between their assessments of the drug links among police, Azurin still parroted Abalos’ characterization of the issue. “The problem is deep because we are a law enforcement agency,” said the top cop, who also submitted his courtesy resignation following the interior chief’s call.
Azurin acknowledged that it seems “unfair” for police officers who had nothing to do with the drug trade to also resign from their positions, but he said he takes this as an “opportunity” for the PNP to put a stop to “malicious accusations.”
But given that they seemingly have identified the top cops allegedly involved in illegal drugs, why don’t they just let these police officers go through the regular administrative and judicial processes so they can be kicked out of service and convicted?
Azurin said their disciplinary machinery is “very effective … but sometimes some people create doubts and it affects the organization.”
Instead of using mechanisms already in place to discipline erring cops, the PNP’s top brass have been told to tender their courtesy resignations and be subjected to an evaluation of a five-member committee, whose membership is still unknown to the public but was revealed by Azurin to have been selected by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. from a list of 22 names.
Certain details of the submission of courtesy resignations however have yet to be ironed out.
For example, it is still not certain what happens if those identified to be in the drug trade do not quit, even as the PNP has set a self-imposed deadline for everyone told to resign to do so within the month.
Azurin himself also is not sure if the committee will be able to finish evaluating all 956 top cops within 30 days following their resignation, after which it will be deemed accepted.
What is certain, though, is that those whose resignations are accepted will be deemed retired from the service and will get benefits as long as they have not yet been convicted of any offense.
“We need to find solutions that will suit everybody. This may not be a perfect solution, but this is something that involves our officers who are the future leaders of this organization,” Azurin said.
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