ILOILO City – Since 2016, nine police officers in Western Visayas with links to illegal drugs have been dismissed from the service, confirmed Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, director of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6). Seven more are being investigated.
“I am warning policemen who engage in illegal drugs either as protector, user or pusher. Stop, or you will become targets of antidrug operations,” said Pamuspusan yesterday.
The most recent to be fired was Police Corporal Pedrito Lupo of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), said Pamuspusan.
According to the police director, he signed Lupo’s dismissal order on June 29.
He identified the eight other dismissed policemen as Police Staff Sergeant Charlie Lamis Blanza; Police Patrolman Angelo Cañal; Police Patrolman Henson Digon; Police Corporal Victor Jimenea; Police Patrolman Kenneth Escolta; Police Patrolman John Paul Talaban; Police Staff Sergeant Jojie Salahid; and Police Patrolman Joelito Colantro.
“We are really serious in our campaign to eradicate illegal drugs and corruption,” said Pamuspusan. “I can assure the people of Western Visayas that we are on target when it comes to our campaign against illegal drugs and all forms of illegal activities.”
The director revealed last week that the PRO-6 has started a case build-up against seven policemen involved in illegal drugs.
The seven appeared in the list of the Philippine National Police national headquarters validated by the Directorate for Intelligence, said Pamuspusan.
“We cannot just reassign these police personnel or ignore the problem. We either have to start adjudicating these people or (start) building up cases against them,” he said.
The higher headquarters will come up with “protocols on how to handle these people,” Pamuspusan added, or the regional police offices could submit inputs.
Early this month, Police Lieutenant Joem Malong, PRO-6 spokesperson, said 30 police officers were linked to illegal drugs either as protectors or traffickers.
Their names were in the list of then PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde, she added.
Albayalde’s drug list contained the names of 391 policemen across the country.
Of the 30 Western Visayas policemen, four were Police Commissioned Officers and 26 were Police Non-Commissioned Officers, said Malong, and all are in active service.
These police officers hold the ranks of lieutenant colonel and patrolman, Malong added./PN
