MANILA – Philippine National Police chief General Oscar Albayalde needs a good lawyer as there is enough circumstantial and testimonial evidence against him, Sen. Richard Gordon said.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, according to Gordon, is set to recommend charges against the embattled Albayalde for his alleged involvement in the recycling of seized illegal drugs.
Gordon added that based on the testimonies and evidence gathered by his Senate committee, the outgoing PNP chief may be criminally and administratively liable.
“(Albayalde) really needs a good lawyer,” Gordon said in a forum in Quezon City on Saturday. “It can be graft and corruption; at the very least, negligence. Pero pag-uusapan pa ‘yun ng blue ribbon committee.”
Albayalde allegedly intervened to stop the dismissal of Police Lieutenant Colonel Rodney Raymundo Baloyo and 12 other policemen from Pampanga who were found guilty of grave misconduct in connection with a drug operation in the province in 2013.
“Malfeasance ‘yung ginawa niyang paglapit. Malfeasance ‘yung ginawa niya na hindi niya tsini-check if it’s within the law. Nonfeasance ‘yung ‘di niya kinasuhan ‘yung mga tao niya,” Gordon said.
The senator also said the testimonies of retired generals Benjamin Magalong and Rudy Lacadin played a big role in determining Albayalde’s supposed liability in the controversy.
“We have the circumstantial connection that if you put together you can really build up a very, very strong case criminally and administratively,” Gordon said. “I don’t care if you’re a retiree. If he is guilty even if he retires, puwede siyang habulin.”
It was Lacadin who bared in a Senate hearing that Albayalde had called him and said that he only got a small portion on the controversial buy bust operation conducted by police officers in Pampanga in November 2013.
Albayalde was the chief of Pampanga police when the 13 police officers allegedly let suspected drug lord Johnson Lee flee in exchange for P50 million while most of the 200 kilos of shabu confiscated during the operation were not declared and presumed to have been sold back to the drug market.
Albayalde denied allegations that he was involved in any way with the operation and that he intervened in the implementation of a dismissal order on the 13 police officers involved./PN
