AROUND 1,000 rotten policemen have been dismissed from service but there were still many scalawags in the Philippine National Police, President Duterte said last Thursday.
Addressing a business forum at the historic landmark Manila Hotel, the President has bewailed the presence of crooked policemen, including the “ninja” cops involved in the illegal drugs trade. Ninja policemen are those who recycle illegal drugs seized in legitimate police operations.
“Ginagawa ko ‘yung trabaho ko. Marami na. Pulis we have dismissed about a thousand. But I know, pagka ‘yung itong mga walang hiya na ito, hindi naman lahat. Ang pulis fundamentally they are all right,” Duterte said. “But there are simply too many scalawags also, lalo na Maynila, t*** i** itong ninja cops, they are still in the business of drugs,” he added.
The President renewed his resolve to fight corruption and illegal drugs, including weeding out policemen involved in such irregularities. “Ito namang nasa corruption, you go. And I said you must be beyond whisper even like Caesar’s wife,” he said.
Last August, the President called on the ninja cops to surrender after raising the bounty for every dead rogue policeman to P5 million.
The President, meantime, said the illegal drugs smuggling in Asia was being controlled by the 14K triad. He said the foreign drug cartels were using cargo shipments to smuggle drugs into the country.
“We are suspecting the intelligence community that it is the 14K triad who is handling drugs now in Asia,” he said. “At ito namang Mexico, not the Medellin lahat ‘yan sila, bantay kayo diyan sa mga cargo kayong mga exporters because ‘yang mga cargo na ‘yan kung saan-saan pagdating ng pantalan o inbound for ito, banana dito kung saan-saan, ‘yan ang ginagamit ng cartel.”
He said the drugs were smuggled inside the containers using plastics to avoid police detection. “It’s not all steel. It’s covered by a plastic thing. Eh isang beses bumagsak, nandoon 67 bricks of cocaine,” he said. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)
