MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has issued a warning against “ninja cops,” or those police officers involved in the recycling of seized illegal drugs.
In a speech in Parañaque City on Wednesday evening, President Duterte slammed policemen who, he said, think they are “lords of the country” whenever they get away with crime.
“But there are some people, like policemen, you have to beg then they arrest. At it again, and they sell drugs and they go scot-free and they think that they are the lords of this country,” Duterte said.
“Well, I’m sorry to tell you, everybody dies in this world but you will go ahead first. Remember that,” he added.
Duterte’s statement came a day after the Senate agreed to release the name of the so-called “ninja cops,” who were revealed by former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Benjamin Magalong in an executive session.
Magalong has accused several Pampanga policemen of recycling drugs in 2007, when Philippine National Police (PNP) head Oscar Albayalde was the provincial chief at the time.
Senator Richard Gordon, meanwhile, said that he will turn over the list of the “ninja cops” to President Duterte and will let the latter to reveal to the public of the implicated policemen.
“If we are to clean up our system, not only in the BuCor (Bureau of Corrections), but most definitely among higher PNP officials’ handling of drugs, we need to overhaul both systems ASAP,” Gordon said./PN
