Bato suggests no patrolman, lieutenant be assigned to PDEG

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa on Sunday said that patrolmen and lieutenants should not be immediately allowed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to be assigned into its drug enforcement group.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, the lawmaker said that PNP has to adjust its administrative policies, including their vetting system, on who should be assigned in the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG), following the controversy into the alleged cover-up in the P6.7 billion shabu bust in Manila last year.

“Dapat nga, sabi ko nga, walang mga…patrolman o tinyente na ma-assign diyan. Dapat i-expose muna field, 'yung mahihirap na assignment, hindi 'yung kagaya ng pag-graduate sa academy diretso agad sa PDEG. Ang exposure nila mali,” dela Rosa, a former PNP chief, said.

(As I’ve said, there should be no patrolman or lieutenant assigned in PDEG. They should be exposed in the field and to difficult assignments first. The ones graduating from the academy should not be sent straight away to PDEG. Their exposure is wrong.)

“Doon kaagad sa mga kalokohan na trabaho ang mapupuntahan nila kapag ang mapuntahan na mga senior doon ay may pagka-ninja na,” he added, admitting that several personnel from the PDEA are involved in the drug syndicate.

(They immediately get exposed to the wrong jobs when the seniors they were assigned to were already like ninja cops.)

The term “ninja cops” refers to police officers who are themselves in the illegal drug trade, usually by supposedly "recycling" confiscated drugs to sell back on the street.

GMA News Online contacted PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo for comment but has yet to receive a reply.

Last Tuesday, former PDEG director Police Brigadier General Narciso Domingo admitted lapses in the October 2022 bust that led to the confiscation of 990 kilograms of shabu. —KG, GMA Integrated News