Azurin to break silence on P6.7 billion shabu cover-up

MANILA, Philippines — Tight-lipped since Monday, Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. vowed he would break his silence soon on the alleged attempt by top Philippine National Police (PNP) officials to cover up the arrest of Rodolfo Mayo Jr., one of the most wanted ex-policemen in the country.

Yesterday, Col. Redrico Maranan, who heads the PNP Public Information Office (PIO), told reporters that Azurin would “give a public statement in the coming days” and that he is just waiting for all reports surrounding Mayo’s arrest to come in.

Last Monday, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos accused 10 police officials, including two star-ranked officers, of hiding the arrest of Mayo, the anti-narcotics officer who was dismissed from the PNP and has been at large since 990 kilos of shabu worth P6.7 billion were seized from his property in Tondo, Manila.

Abalos based his conclusion of a police cover-up on surveillance camera footage showing Mayo being arrested and later being uncuffed and released last Oct. 8.

But one of the generals alluded to by Abalos, Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo, said the decision to release Mayo after his arrest was a “tactical move,” which Azurin supposedly approved with Lt. Gen. Benjamin Santos Jr., former PNP director for comptrollership, in an effort to seize another large cache of shabu from a warehouse in Pasig City.

Domingo, who has since filed a leave of absence as director of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG), denied there was a cover-up, noting that the closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) footage from which Abalos drew his conclusions came from the PDEG.

He claimed that it was one of the pieces of evidence the PDEG submitted to the special investigation task group (SITG) formed to look into irregularities done by anti-narcotics officers in connection with the illegal drugs found at Mayo’s lending office.

The general said they also submitted a copy of the video to the National Police Commission (Napolcom), in which Abalos sits as chairman.

Domingo said that if they were hiding any involvement in criminal activity with Mayo, then they could have just destroyed the video instead of include it in their evidence list.

“If we were ‘in’ on it, we should have burned that CCTV footage; but we reported it and turned the whole thing over to the SITG,” he said in Filipino.

Apart from Domingo, Col. Julian Olonan also filed his leave of absence from the PDEG, said Maranan.

Senate wants probe

Meanwhile, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. is seeking a legislative inquiry on the P6.7-billion drug haul in Tondo to uncover the truth over the trivialities of Mayo’s apparent arrest and release with the alleged go-signal of top PNP officials.

In filing proposed Senate Resolution No. 564, which directs the proper Senate committees to conduct the congressional probe, Revilla said: “It seems that there are still rotten people in the organization that are destroying it, so it is necessary to look into it to prevent it from happening again.”

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, a former PNP chief and the architect of the war on drugs of former president Rodrigo Duterte, said he could not grasp the alleged strategy of the present PNP leadership in releasing a suspect arrested with almost a ton of shabu.

In a Viber message to The STAR, Dela Rosa said: “I don’t know what was on their minds. What tactical advantage could they get by uncuffing a suspect of a multibillion-peso drug possession?”

On the part of the PNP, Maranan said they support the holding of a congressional inquiry as it would give them an opportunity to shed light on the issue.

“There is a need for our countrymen to understand what happened, the circumstances surrounding the issue of this 990 kilos  seized from Sgt. Mayo,” he said in Filipino.

At the House of Representatives, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers called on police assets and those involved in these activities to come out and “name names.”

Barbers, who heads the House committee on dangerous drugs, said combating drug trafficking is a herculean task and in order to stop it, people who really know about the trade must come forward.