The Senate will debate and approve the report of the Senate Blue Ribbon and Justice Committees recommending the filing of criminal charges against resigned Philippine National Police chief Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde and 13 alleged “ninja” cops when it resumes regular session on Nov. 4, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III said yesterday.
Interviewed by DWIZ radio while in Singapore after attending an Inter-Parliamentary Union assembly in Belgrade, Serbia along with 10 other senators, Sotto said he is confident that majority members of the 24-man Senate would approve the 46-page committee report penned by Sen. Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the two committees.
“Palagay ko unanimous,’’ Sotto said, adding that the committee report contained very accurate and faithful reproduction of the public hearings.
Albayalde, who is on a non-duty status at the PNP hierarchy since last Monday, is scheduled to go on retirement upon reaching the age of 56 on Nov. 8.
The Department of Interior and Local Government will determine whether or not Albayalde will receive his retirement and or pension benefits following the Senate findings and whether or not the Department of Justice will file criminal charges against Albayalde and his 13 men who were his subordinates when he was the Pampanga provincial director in 2013.
It was in late 2013 that the Albayalde’s ninja cops allegedly staged a simulated buy-bust operation in a subdivision in Mexico, Pampanga, and declared that only 32 of the 200 kilos of suspected shabu was seized.
The ninja cops allegedly freed the South Korean drug lord, Johnson Lee, after paying a P50 million, and made off with some of Lee’s vehicles. (Mario Casayuran)
