WPD ANTI-DRUG CHIEF SACKED

Citing reports of rampant extortion cases by his men, chief drug buster
Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay sacked yesterday Superintendent
Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., head of the Western Police District (WPD) anti-drug
unit.

"He should be relieved pending results of the investigation against him and
his men," said Aglipay, referring to Pedrozo and his men who were tagged in
the P600,000 "shakedown" of a Chinese store owner in Binondo, Manila.

Aglipay, head of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force
(AID-SOTF), vowed to file corresponding charges against Pedrozo and his men
should they be found guilty of the accusations against them.

He said Pedrozo's relief should serve as a warning to other ranking
district, provincial, station, municipal and city anti-drug units that he
means business in ridding the AID-SOTF ranks of men involved in extortion
cases like frame-up, planting of evidence, bangketa, hulidap, kalawit and
kidnapping.

"Bangketa and kalawit cops are the devils in the organization. We will not
stop until we crush the last in their tribe," said Aglipay, adding that at
least 302 erring policemen were arrested since they launched their drive
against scalawags and misfits last year.

Among those arrested was Senior Inspector Wilfredo Abordo, head of the
Manila police Station 8 anti-drug unit who was arrested inside Camp Crame
last month for his involvement in the P1.7-million extortion of suspected
drug lord Benito Chua in Las Pinas City.

Abordo, a member of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) Class 98,
and 13 others were charged with kidnapping before the Department of
Justice. Earlier, Metro police chief Director Ricardo de Leon ordered an
investigation against Pedrozo after some four of his men and those from the
intelligence unit, were accused of "bangketa" operation involving a Chinese
couple.

De Leon said the vehicle used in the operation was a black Honda CRV, the
license plate of which belonged to a truck.

The Metro police chief also ordered Manila police director Chief
Superintendent Pedro Bulaong to revamp his anti-drug unit and other support
units to prevent massive extortion cases in his jurisdiction.

Aglipay admitted that the bangketa and other extortion activities of erring
policemen are pulling down the vast numbers of AID-SOTF accomplishments
since its inception in June last year.

He noted that Pedrozo's calling cards were also recovered from raided shabu
laboratory in Paranaque City last year.

Aglipay explained that Pedrozo's relief was meant to prevent him from
intervening in the investigation of the cases against him and his men.
"There will be no whitewash in the investigation of the case. We will not
allow that to happen," Aglipay said. Operations Suspended Bulaong ordered
yesterday the entire operatives of the District Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special
Operations Group (DAID-SOG) to refrain from conducting operations while the
entire unit is under investigation for alleged involvement in hulidap
operations.

Bulaong will personally handle the investigation to determine the
culpability of DAID-SOG chief Pedrozo and at least six of his men in the
alleged abduction of a Fil-Chinese couple and their subsequent release
after paying off P600,000, according to WPD spokesman Chief Inspector Gerry
Agunod.

At the same time, Bulaong called on the victims to personally see him,
assuring their protection to identify through police gallery the policemen
involved in the said hulidap operations.

According to Agunod, photos of the DAID-SOG operatives allegedly involved
in the illegal operations will be shown to the victims for identification.
The policemen involved shall then undergo a police lineup for positive
identification, Agunod added.

As this developed, Bulaong relieved Homicide Section commander Chief
Inspector Alex Yanquiling for attempts to conduct police dragnet operations
against the alleged abductors of the couple without securing clearance from
his superiors.

Reports showed that Yanquiling and his men were all poised to "neutralize"
the suspects after a daughter of the couple immediately sought assistance
at the WPD headquarters minutes after paying off the ransom at a parking
lot of a fastfood restaurant in Luneta.

According to WPD's Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit chief
Superintendent Co Yee Co, Yanquiling had placed in danger the lives of the
abducted couple had they succeeded in running after the abductors. "There
were no clear signs yet whether the couple had already been released after
payment of ransom, so an unauthorized pursuit would only placed the victims
in danger," Co said.

It was Co who stopped Yanquiling and his men from pursuing the suspects on
that fateful Monday night. Yanquiling was replaced by Senior Inspector
Alberto Peco.