PNP defends self after DILG chief smells ‘conspiracy’

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police on Tuesday parried suspicions coming from no less than Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla that there had been a “grand conspiracy” within its ranks to conceal criminal activities involving its members.

The PNP defended itself from statements made by Remulla, a day after the government recommended the filing of charges against 30 policemen involved in the seizure of nearly a ton of crystal meth, or "shabu,” worth P6.7 billion in Manila more than two years ago.

Thirty policemen, including two generals, were accused of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act when they allegedly planted evidence and mishandled a high-profile drug case involving Police Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo.

The case was related to the recovery of 990 kilos of “shabu” (crystal meth) in Tondo, Manila, in a series of operations in October 2022. At the time, it was touted by the PNP and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as one of the largest drug hauls on record.

READ: ‘Simulated’ drug bust: 30 PNP men charged

“The PNP welcomes investigations and is ready to fully cooperate with any inquiry to uphold transparency, strengthen public trust, and reinforce good governance,” the PNP said in a statement.

“Accountability remains paramount, even for retired or resigned personnel. While administrative actions may no longer apply, criminal charges can still be pursued when evidence establishes involvement in illegal activities,” it said.

In a press conference on Monday, Remulla said there appeared to be “a grand conspiracy to conceal a criminal enterprise within the PNP," which could have been encouraged by the “reward system” implemented during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Allegedly because of this system, policemen who were able to intercept a cache of drugs would only report a portion of the haul and then conceal the rest for reporting future arrests.

Remulla did not elaborate, but such a scheme related to the Duterte antidrug campaign was confirmed by retired Police Col. Royina Garma during the House quad committee inquiry last year. According to Garma, Duterte offered cash rewards to policemen for every drug suspect killed.

The PNP said it continued to address allegations of wrongdoing within the organization through the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group, Internal Affairs Service, and other investigative units.

“Regarding claims of a reward system tied to killings, the PNP explicitly denies such allegations. No Chief PNP, past or present, would ever condone such a practice. Rewards are strictly limited to the lawful arrest of wanted persons, governed by established regulations,” it said.

Accountability

Remulla, in a television interview on Tuesday, said there was a need to hold policemen in the 2022 drug haul accountable, including then PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. The PNP earlier said that 22 active police officers involved would be placed under restrictive custody. The rest had either resigned, had been compulsorily retired, or had been dismissed from service.

“In my opinion, until [General] Azurin, we have to set a moral tone and a moral hazard to all the members of the active police force that covering up, concealing, [and] participating in [the] conspiracy will lead you to nowhere,” he said, saying the investigation “open[ed] a can of worms into the rogue system that was in place from 2016 to 2022.”

“It shows, for the first time, that the entire criminal enterprise started with Sgt. Mayo selling 2 kilograms [of shabu]. For the first time, we see a police officer peddling shabu. For the first time we see police officers hauling shabu, concocting a scenario to cover up the entire scene,” he said.

Also on Monday, the National Police Commission said Mayo’s arrest was “staged” by the police to cover up irregularities from his earlier arrest, including the failure to document the operation and his involvement in a major drug haul at the Wealth and Personal Development Lending office in Tondo, which Mayo owned.

Police initially claimed that Mayo was arrested at Quiapo Bridge during a pursuit on Oct. 9, 2022, and was found with 2 kilos of shabu. His alleged accomplice, Ney Atadero, was arrested in a separate drug bust in Tondo a day earlier.

Security camera footage, however, showed that Mayo was arrested on Oct. 8 in a buy-bust operation in Bambang, another district in Tondo.

Remulla dismissed insinuations that the investigation into the 2022 drug bust was an attack against the Duterte administration.

“We never cast aspersions on Duterte. We cast aspersions on the policies that he created and the effects of what happened. We never accused him of anything. We only [said] that the policies did not work,” he said.

“The reward system emboldened the police force to game the reward system,” Remulla added.

Confirmation

At the House of Representatives, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the recommendation to file charges against the 30 policemen “[confirmed] what we in the quad comm have uncovered—the Duterte administration’s reward system turned law enforcement into a criminal enterprise (and) prioritized kill statistics and inflated accomplishments over genuine reform and public safety."

Barbers, the lead chair of the House quad committee, said, “This reward system didn’t just encourage shortcuts; it bred criminal enterprises within the very institution tasked with upholding the law.”

“Officers fabricated evidence, inflated statistics, and exploited the system for personal profit, while those who should have been held accountable were shielded,” he added.

“By prioritizing kill statistics over accountability, (Duterte) turned the PNP into a rogue organization that thrived on shortcuts and blood money,” he said. “This fabricated drug haul is not an isolated case—it’s a damning indictment of Duterte’s entire approach to governance.”

(2025/01/15-05:37)