AT least 10 cops from the Drug Enforcement Group of the Philippine National Police (PDEG) have been relieved from their assignments amid the ongoing investigation over the 990 kilos of “shabu” seized following an operation in Manila that also led to the arrest of a police sergeant who owns a lending agency.
Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., owner of Wealth and Personal Development Lending Inc. in Sta. Cruz, Manila and an intelligence officer of the PDEG was arrested after he yielded at least two kilos of shabu inside his car in a follow-up operation in Quiapo, Manila on October 9.
According to PNP Spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo, Mayo and his cohorts were temporarily transferred to the Personnel Holding and Accounting unit (PHAU) at Camp Crame, so as not to influence the ongoing investigation of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG)
“No less than the Chief PNP [Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr.] issued an order to really investigate this case…,” Fajardo told reporters in an interview.
She added that she doesn’t have the exact number on how many were relieved, but she placed an initial count of 10 affected policemen and non-commissioned personnel to pave way in the ongoing investigation.
“I don’t have the list right now but I understand that his [Mayo’s] highest immediate supervisor, a lieutenant colonel who is the chief of the NCR Special Operations Units [SOU] of the PDEG, so he was relieved under the doctrine of command responsibility…when this incident happened and the others are junior officers who are members of the team leaders of these NCR teams,” said Fajardo.
She explained that with respect to the relief of some PDEG personnel, they were not implicated by Mayo, but were nevertheless relieved to give way to the ongoing investigation.