DOJ finds probable cause to charge Albayalde with graft over 2013 Pampanga drug raid

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has found probable cause to charge former Philippine National Police chief Police General Oscar Albayalde and a dozen police officers over an allegedly anomalous anti-drug operation in Pampanga in 2013.

Prosecutors found probable cause to charge Albayalde, who was then the chief of Pampanga police, with graft after finding that he did not implement an order "which sought to penalize the police officers involved in the questioned drug operation," the DOJ said Thursday.

His violation was "persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations in connection with the official duties of the latter," and "for causing any undue injury to any party, including the government," under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the DOJ said in a statement.

The panel of prosecutors' findings against Albayalde will be endorsed to the Office of the Ombudsman.

On the other hand, Police Major Rodney Raymundo Louie Baloyo IV and 11 other policemen were indicted for misappropriation of confiscated drugs, planting of evidence, delay and bungling in the prosecution of drugs cases -- all offenses under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

They were also indicted for qualified bribery under the Revised Penal Code and for graft for causing undue injury to any party, including the government, the DOJ said.

The following were recommended charged, according to the DOJ:

• P/Supt. Rodney Raymundo Louie Juico Baloyo IV;
• P/Insp. Joven Bagnot De Guzman, Jr.;
• SPO1 Jules Lacap Maniago;
• SPOI Donald Castro Roque;
• SPO1 Ronald Bayas Santos;
• SPO1 Rommel Muñoz Vital;
• SPO1 Alcindor Mangiduyos Tinio;
• PO3 Dindo Singian Dizon;
• PO3 Gilbert Angeles De Vera;
• PO3 Romeo Encarnacio Guerrero, Jr.;
• SPO1 Eligio Dayos Valeroso; and
• SPO1 Dante Mercado Dizon

Only one officer was cleared: PO2 Anthony Loleng Lacsamana, whom the panel found not to have participated in the operation, said Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete.

The resolution was the result of a reinvestigation of a complaint against the "ninja cops" who allegedly failed to declare the full quantity of the drugs they seized in a November 29, 2013 operation in Mexico, Pampanga and let an arrested suspect go in exchange for P55 million and an SUV.

The original complaint was dismissed, but Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra ordered it reinvestigated after a Senate inquiry revealed alleged anomalies in the police operation.

This time, the panel of prosecutors found that Baloyo and his men declared only 36.60 kilograms of some 200 kilograms of shabu that they seized during their operation, according to the statement.

The officers also claimed they obtained only P300,000 from the operation despite evidence showing they actually got P10 million, the DOJ said, adding that some of them also failed to account for a seized Toyota Fortuner.

The prosecutors also saw reason to charge Baloyo and the other policemen upon finding that they "illegally arrested" and implicated the wrong person for the seized drugs.

Though the drugs were confiscated from one Johnson Lee, they allegedly brought one Ding Wenkun to court, the DOJ said. Wenkun was eventually cleared of charges.

The prosecutors also recommended charges against Guerrero and Santos for violating Dangerous Drug Board regulations in the chain of custody of evidence and for "making untruthful statements" against Wenkun.

Baloyo was also indicted for falsification by a public officer for "making untruthful statements" in his reports about the 2013 operation.

Complaints against Albayalde for misappropriation of confiscated drugs, falsification, and negligence were dismissed for lack of probable cause, Perete said.

"One other pertinent discussion made in the reso relates to the theory of command responsibility as basis for holding Albayalde criminally accountable for acts relating to the operation. But the Panel noted that no Philippine law provides for criminal liability under this doctrine," he told reporters.—NB, GMA News