Abalos and Azurin

You’ve seen movies, many based on real events, in which a big fish in drug trafficking is apprehended and then freed, as bait for even bigger fish.

This is what happened in the case of police M/Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., who turned out to be the owner of an office in Tondo, Manila where 990 kilos of shabu valued at P6.7 billion were found during a police raid on Oct. 8 last year.

Or at least this is what the former chief of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group and several other PDEG officials would have the public believe.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, whose department has supervision over the PNP, has a different version of what transpired in that drug bust.

Last week Abalos told 10 ranking police officials including PDEG chief Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo and the former PNP deputy chief for operations, Lt. Gen. Benjamin Santos Jr., to go on leave or face suspension.

This was on suspicion that they were involved in a cover-up of the drug bust, in which 42 kilos of the seized shabu were believed to have been pilfered, as well as in the questionable release of Mayo, at the time a PDEG intelligence officer. Mayo is now in police custody.

Among the pieces of evidence presented by Abalos was video footage of the raid, which showed Mayo being led away in handcuffs but subsequently uncuffed and allowed to leave in his car.

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Domingo, in near tears, faced the press last week, to announce that he would comply with Abalos’ order, and to say that their moves in that drug raid were cleared with Azurin himself.

Santos lamented being dragged into the mess. He denied he had also approved Mayo’s release or even knowing that Mayo was in a car near him during the raid. Santos said, in so many words, that he simply got caught on video in the wrong place at the wrong time.

For several days, there was an intriguingly deafening silence from Azurin as hell broke loose around him. An initial promise to speak on the issue last Friday was canceled and reset to Monday, stoking speculation that Domingo and Santos were telling the truth and the PNP chief needed the weekend for script polishing and damage control.

When Azurin finally faced the press last Monday, he denied that there was a cover-up of Mayo’s arrest and release, and of critical details in the drug bust. Azurin said he had in fact formed a special group to investigate the shabu pilferage.

Azurin also vouched for the integrity of Santos and Domingo, and lamented that Abalos was being taken for a ride by certain persons and was misjudging the events.

The PNP chief skirted details of Domingo’s story, notably that he had cleared Mayo’s release ostensibly so the suspect could lead the PDEG to the source of the massive drug haul.

Domingo said this bigger drug bust failed to materialize after he was taken out of the case. This was after video footage showed the pilferage of the shabu by PDEG members, which he said he himself had reported and wanted investigated.

Yesterday, Abalos said that while he respected Azurin’s opinion, the public deserves to know the truth, and the video footage speaks for itself.

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If Azurin, who retires on April 24, gets entangled in this mess, he wouldn’t be the first PNP chief to be implicated in a drug “recycling” scandal. Oscar Albayalde found his name becoming synonymous with “ninja cops” just weeks before his retirement from the PNP in 2019.

When that scandal erupted, Albayalde looked as if he didn’t know what hit him. In November 2011, he was cleared by the ombudsman of graft charges related to the drug recycling, but by that time, he had long been convicted in the court of public opinion.

This court, which renders judgment at lightning speed, appears to have also convicted Santos and Domingo; the two bewailed that even their relatives were suffering public opprobrium as a result. Azurin cautioned against prejudgment and ruining reputations of people.

Critical in this controversy is who will have President Marcos’ ear.

Azurin, a native of Tarlac, served as Ilocos Region police chief and can therefore claim honorary membership in the new naghaharing uri, the GI or Genuine Ilocano.

Abalos, Mandaluyong born and bred, left his job as chief of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in the previous administration to become candidate BBM’s campaign manager. There are rumors that Abalos is being eyed as the next executive secretary.

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BBM may have to factor in reports about demoralization or unrest in the PNP triggered by Abalos’ demand for the courtesy resignations of over 900 officials from the rank of full colonel and higher, ostensibly to weed out a handful of officers involved in drug trafficking. Azurin is a member of the five-man evaluating panel.

Further fueling the reported unrest is the possible cut in the retirement pensions and other benefits of military, police and other uniformed personnel (MUP), to prevent what Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has described as a “fiscal collapse.”

We’ve seen the reactions of certain MUP retirees to Diokno’s push for reforms, which boil down to: why didn’t he, as budget secretary of Rodrigo Duterte, stop the doubling of MUP salaries effective January 2018? And if Duterte ignored his protests, why didn’t Diokno resign, and instead even accepted promotion to the highest paying post in the Philippine government, the central bank governor (P41.81 million in salaries and allowances in 2021)?

MUP retirees also lament that they are being singled out, pointing to the fat retirement pay and pensions of judges and justices as well as officials of constitutional bodies.

Unrest over the review of the MUP pensions is not confined to retirees. Grumblings can be heard especially among those who miss their VIP treatment under Duterte, and their carte blanche in the drug war to shoot to kill and ask questions later.

In his efforts to clean up the PNP and eradicate ninja cops, Abalos surely has broad support from other sectors.

Diokno, meanwhile, should also consider suggestions from some well-meaning quarters on how to make the MUP pension reforms minimally painful to the affected folks.

Any pushback from the PNP and other MUP will eventually have to be confronted directly by President Marcos. Whether he will have the intestinal fortitude for this would be interesting to watch.