Barely three months in office, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla immediately got into action in his new office. Attending to unfinished tasks turned over to him by his immediate predecessor, Remulla completed and submitted the report and recommendations of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) on its investigation of the alleged “sham” buy-bust of P6.7 billion worth of shabu in Tondo, Manila in October 2022.
Remulla abandoned his re-election bid as Cavite governor in this coming May 12 national and local elections. Remulla originally filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Oct. 2. After accepting the Cabinet post, Remulla officially withdrew his COC on Oct. 7.
Compared to the easy-peasy job during his stint at the Cavite provincial capitol, the 57-year-old DILG secretary candidly conceded his new office at the national government is challenging to him, time-wise. Living in Silang, Cavite, he has to travel an average of one hour and 40 minutes every day in order to go to his DILG office in Quezon City.
Remulla took over from erstwhile DILG secretary Benhur Abalos, who is running in the Senate race under PBBM’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas. He disclosed to us Abalos informed him about the “sham” drug buy-bust case that had been gathering dust for more than two years already at the Napolcom. Headed then by Napoleon Bernado, an appointee of former president Rodrigo Duterte, Remulla noted with dismay that as many as 1,400 cases were pending at the Napolcom, including this “sham” drug buy-bust.
A month after Remulla joined the Cabinet, PBBM appointed a young lawyer, Rico Bernabe, to be the new Napolcom chief. He serves as vice chairman of the DILG secretary on the Napolcom board. Thus, on their first official act this year, Remulla announced at Malacañang last Monday (Jan. 13) the Napolcom finding probable cause to recommend to the Department of Justice (DOJ) the filing of criminal information against active and retired police officers, all the way to the rank of general. The DILG chief is the younger brother of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
Criminal charges have been subsequently filed against 29 police officers, including two police generals. They were charged for violating Section 92 of the Planting of Evidence under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. The cases were filed before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 44.
A few hours after Remulla further elaborated about this case during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, the court issued warrants of arrest against the accused police officers. With the “People of the Philippines” as complainant, they were all charged for violating Section 92 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Of the 29 accused, 22 are still in the active service of the Philippine National Police (PNP), ten of whom are now under custody of the Manila Police District. According to Bernabe, 56 PNP personnel were originally implicated in this “sham” shabu buy-bust operation. Bernabe explained several policemen were exonerated after Napolcom investigations showed they had no direct knowledge of the “sham” buy-bust operations. Those exonerated cops were caught on CCTV as merely assigned as perimeter security.
Bernabe believes the DOJ prosecutors may still find additional evidence in the case build-up against more PNP officers and men, some of whom went AWOL (absent without leave). This may include charges that might be filed against former PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr., who was not included in the case because he has retired from the service.
While these few “rogues” stain the cops’ uniform, Remulla believes majority of the 225,000-strong PNP remain clean.
Remulla singled out the few rogue PNP officers who he accused of manipulating the police rules in the chain of custody of seized illegal drugs and other evidence. The accused PNP officers included Lt. Gen. Benjamin Santos Jr. who was then the PNP deputy chief for operations, Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo who headed the Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) and Police Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo, as the key actors in the “sham” buy-bust case. He vows to secure the conviction of all the accused PNP personnel at the end of their court trial.
Remulla described this case as a “grand conspiracy” cover-up on top of another cover-up. The CCTV inside and around the warehouse owned by Mayo, who illegally stashed there the seized 990 kilos of shabu, were disabled. However, Remulla revealed, the Napolcom probers secured CCTV footages from the private office in front of another warehouse.
Aside from being sold by these “rogue” cops, Remulla suspect the same “pattern” of seized shabu being “recycled” to plant as evidence for extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in Duterte’s all-out war against illegal drugs.
“Daig pa sine. Parang pang-Netflix,” Remulla quoted PBBM’s reaction after being apprised on the Napolcom’s investigation report.
Based on his “theory,” the “sham” buy-bust could provide solid evidence to the on-going EJK investigations of the DOJ against ex-president Duterte. He particularly pointed to the testimony of Royina Garma, former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), admitted the “reward system” in the anti-drug war of the Duterte administration. Last December, the quad comm submitted this information to the DOJ on the EJK probe.
The DILG secretary also vowed to ensure PBBM’s nationwide ban against Philippine online gambling operators (POGOs) is carried out, down to all local government units (LGUs). As the immediate supervisor of all LGUs, Remulla is asking the full cooperation of all LGU chief executives to submit a regular monitoring report of probable “guerilla” operations of POGOs in their respective areas.
Another sibling is helping in this anti-POGO campaign. His younger brother, Gilbert Remulla, a former Cavite congressman, was appointed by PBBM as board director of the state-run Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (PAGCOR).
So it’s a team of brothers now working in the national government offices, leaving politics to the third Remulla generation.