SAID a former NBI officer, “What General Albayalde had to go through, facing his men and bidding them farewell, it’s a cause for manly tears.”
The mood was somber, the policemen in uniform marching before their chief for the last time. Their spirits were down, the atmosphere funereal. Remembering the statements of officers aired during the Senate hearings on “ninja cops,” it was impossible to believe that the rank and file were “not demoralized” as claimed.
What we learned on his last day as PNP chief was that Gen. Oscar Albayalde had several options: resign, retire, go on terminal leave as suggested by the Commander-in-Chief, apply for non-duty status. He chose NDS, whatever that entails and whether it’s the same or different from the other modes of quitting the organization, just as long as he’s entitled to the full benefits of leaving the service.
Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa has taken over as officer in charge, until President Duterte appoints a new chief. In the meantime, while waiting for Nov. 8 or sooner, something strange is going on or not going on. For reasons that I could only charge to pure journalistic curiosity, from the first day of October I began jotting down notes culled from newspaper and TV reports of the amounts of drugs seized from buy-bust operations and raids.
- Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, P13.6 million seized in Dumaguete; P2.6M in Negros Occ.; P3.4M in Bacolod.
- From Sept. 28 to 30, P2M.
- Oct. 1, P145,000.
- Oct. 2, P547,300.
- Oct. 4, P1.1M.
- Oct. 7, P10.2M worth of shabu, 140 kg, seized from an ex-prisoner in Davao.
- Oct. 7, P54M shabu, seized from an Indonesian woman at NAIA.
- Oct. 8, P2M in Cebu.
- Oct. 9, P68M in Quezon City.
- Oct. 10, P760,000.
Abruptly, the accomplishments end there, around the time the hearings were tightening the noose tighter and tighter around the necks of the accused. By coincidence, PTV stopped airing its nightly summaries of drug arrests and seizures. No news since Oct. 10? Hard to believe that pushers and dealers unanimously, anonymously decided to lie low and give the cops a break. What does this pregnant pause signify, what does it imply?
