By: Aaron B. Recuenco
At least 80 policemen, including a police colonel caught in pot session and female official accused of links with the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), were dismissed from the service.
Director General Ronald dela Rosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said he had already signed the recommendation of Internal Affairs Service (IAS) which put in effect the dismissal of additional 80 policemen.
“I have already signed the resolutions from IAS,” said Dela Rosa.
The official said the resolutions include that of Supt. Lito Cabamongan, former head of the satellite office of the Crime Laboratory in Muntinlupa and Supt. Maria Cristina Nobleza, former deputy chief of the Crime Laboratory in the Davao Region.
Cabamongan, it was recalled, was caught in Las Piñas City while using shabu with a woman while Nobleza was accused of trying to rescue wounded Abu Sayyaf fighters in Bohol.
Both officials were charged with grave misconduct, which is punishable by dismissal from service. It was the IAS which investigated their cases and submitted the recommendation to Dela Rosa.
A total of 160 policemen were dismissed from the service from January 2016 to June this year, most of their cases are related to illegal drugs.
Dela Rosa earlier vowed to purge the PNP with misfits, even creating an anti-scalawag unit which has so far arrested almost 40 policemen since March this year.
While tough on 80 policemen whose dismissal order he immediately signed, Dela Rosa said he spared three to four policemen who were charged for non-payment of debts.
“They were recommended for dismissal but I returned the case (to IAS) and told them to review because I believe such penalty is too harsh for their cases,” said Dela Rosa.
He disclosed that the four policemen were charged before the IAS after they failed and refuse to pay debts from credit agencies.
“Maybe the IAS saw something that prompted them to recommend for their dismissal but what I saw is that their cases need review,” said Dela Rosa.