MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. admitted Friday that his administration has long been planning to call on top cops to submit their courtesy resignations supposedly to cleanse their ranks of links to the illegal drug trade.
Asked at the sidelines of his inspection of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport if Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos’ call for police officers to quit had his blessing, Marcos said, “We’ve been planning this for a while.”
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Marcos said calling for top cops to tender their resignations was his administration’s “different” approach to combating illegal drugs, which was a flagship project of his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We know that the drug problem would not happen if it weren’t for some members of the police. That’s why we need to see who are accomplices, who are involved and who should not be in the service anymore because they’re associated with drug lords,” Marcos said in Filipino.
Marcos said the government is not yet filing cases as it has not yet identified the high-ranking police officers who are supposedly connected with the illegal drug trade, a claim which contradicted that of previous pronouncements of Abalos and Philippine National Police chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr.
“We can’t file cases yet because we haven’t identified them,” Marcos said. “We will form a commission and we will look into the records of all of the officers. We’ll reinstate those who are clear, and maybe we will have to decide with those who are implicated to be involved in the drug trade. Maybe in severe cases we’ll file charges.”
Azurin said Thursday that there might be only “less than five” high-ranking police officers involved in the drug trade, a completely different picture than what Abalos tried to portray the day before when he said the police force suffered from a “deep infection” of the drug trade.
Cops ranking from colonel to general have been asked to submit their courtesy resignation, after which they would be screened by a five-member committee whose composition is still unknown to the public but has been selected by Marcos.
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.