Retired cop general defends ‘drug lord’ in court

They are now on the opposite sides of the fence, so to speak.

Director General Edgar Aglipay, Philippine National Police chief, found himself grilled last Tuesday in the trial of alleged drug trafficker Jackson Dy by a former colleague, retired Chief Superintendent Steve Cudal, the defense lawyer.

Aglipay took the witness stand as former director of the Anti-Drug Task Force of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) which raided a shabu laboratory which Dy allegedly operated in Tanza, Cavite, two years ago.

Dy was also tagged as the maintainer of two other shabu labs busted in the cities of Parañaque and Pasay.

He was arrested last year and is now detained at Camp Ricardo Papa Sr. in Bicutan, Taguig.

"It was an odd situation," said a PNP source of Cudal’s grilling of Aglipay at the sala of Trece Martirez Regional Trial Court Judge Aurelio Icasiano Jr.

Another police official said Cudal should not have accepted the job as Dy’s defense lawyer "out of delicadeza," pointing out that he has been receiving pension from the PNP since his retirement in 2000.

"As a police officer, he used to be one of those going after people like Dy, but now he represents Dy to get away with his illegal activities. His obligation to the country did not end after his retirement from the police organization," the police official said.

The STAR tried to get in touch with Cudal to no avail.

Cudal headed the PNP Crime Laboratory when he was director of the Directorate for Police Community Relations.