I’m referring to a few scalawags in the police force who literally create problems for the organization. The good thing is that these bad cops or rotten apples in the organization are getting their match in the form of our good cops who will not hesitate to arrest or even fire at them in self-defense.

While writing this piece, PNP chief, General Gilor Eleazar has already ordered the PNP Internal Service to throw the book on a member of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group identified as Patrolman Josen Niño Ramos for his purported involvement in a kidnapping-for-ransom case in Quezon City.

The arrest of the suspect I believe will be another challenge for the PNP-DEG which is in the forefront of the PNP’s successful war on drugs, together with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency headed by Director General Wilkins Villanueva. Both agencies actually have been going after the so-called ‘big fishes’ in the illegal drug industry as proven by the seizure of over P66 billion worth of prohibited drugs since the Duterte government launched its war on drugs on July 1, 2016.

It turned out that members of the QCPD Station 11 headed by Senior Master Sergeant George Ferrer responded to a call regarding the presence of a group of suspicious-looking men in front of Mezza Residences along G. Araneta Avenue on Thursday evening.

When the QCPD officers arrived in the area, they found three men who identified themselves as PNP-DEG confidential informants while inside a car. The quick-thinking policemen later found a half-naked and handcuffed Chinese national inside the vehicle prompting them to invite the three for questioning at the QCPD Station 11 headquarters.

However, Pat. Ramos came to the defense of the three who turned out to be his Criminology classmates and claimed they arrested the 29-year old Chinese for illegal drugs. The good cops did not buy the claim of the cop and placed him and his three cohorts under arrest when the Chinese told them he was kidnapped by the suspect who demanded 450,000 Yuan or the equivalent of P3,563,060 for his release.

Ramos was stripped of his PNP-issued pistol. The other three suspects yielded another pistol, two bladed weapons and nearly 142 grams of suspected shabu. A motorcycle and the car used by the suspects were impounded by the QCPD.

It turned out that Ramos was not authorized to conduct any anti-illegal drug operation in the area that time. He is now in deep trouble as Gen. Eleazar said the erring cop has no place in the force anymore.

The PNP chief ordered the National Capital Region Police Office headed by Major Gen. Vic Danao , the QCPD headed by Brigadier Gen. Tony Yarra and the PNP-DEG headed by Brig. Gen. Remus Medina to dig deeper into the illegal activities of the suspects.

Agents of the PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group under Brigadier Gen. Flynn Dongbo have also accounted for two rogue cops in separate operations since Saturday last week. One of the two identified as Corporal Myrldon Yagi of the QCPD Station 14 was arrested in an entrapment operation inside the Barangay Holy Spirit Annex Hall.

Gen. Eleazar said that the accused was caught receiving P2,000 in marked bills from a fruit vendor whom he mauled and threatened with the use of his gun. The complainant said that the cop also took his mobile phone and told him to ‘redeem’ it. The cop also said he won’t order the dismantling of the complainant’s fruit stand if he would heed his monetary demand.

The accused who was immediately disarmed was meek as a lamb when he was arrested by the PNP-IMEG operatives. Gen. Eleazar also ordered a thorough investigation to determine the possible cohorts of Yagi in robbery-extortion activities in the area.

“Isa na namang kasamahan namin ang napariwara ng landas at itinaya ang kanyang propesyon at ang integridad ng aming organisasyon sa halagang dalawang libong piso,” Gen. Eleazar said. “Dahil dito ay titiyakin natin na habambuhay na pagsisihan ni Police Corporal Myrldon Yagi ang ginawa niyang pangongotong lalo na kung lumabas sa imbestigasyon na talagang ginawa niya ito,” he added.

PNP-IMEG agents also shot dead Staff Sergeant Garfilo Pahilino Jr., a member of the Cataingan Municipal Police Station in Masbate during a gunfight that marred the conduct of an entrapment operation against the latter.

Gen. Eleazar said that killing of the rogue sergeant in a shootout in Placer municipality should again serve a strong warning to criminals including those in uniform that they really mean business when it comes to going after all violators of the law.

He also commended the PNP-IMEG for their successful operation that led in the neutralization of Pahilino who was tagged as a leader of a gun-running syndicate in Masbate.

Brig. Gen. Dongbo said that his men were about to arrest Pahilino after he sold three caliber .38 revolvers and one caliber .45 semi-automatic pistol to an undercover officer when the suspect apparently sensed the ongoing sting and fired shots at the officers. The PNP-IMEG team retaliated killing the accused on the spot.

The official said that prior to the sting, the policeman was monitored to be engaged in the illegal sale of firearms to some unscrupulous politicians in Masbate province. Dongbo said that the suspect was the subject of their Coplan: Grafilo which is aimed at neutralizing rogue policemen in the region.

The PNP-IMEG director said that recovered from the possession of the slain cop were three cal. .38 revolvers without serial numbers, a cal. .45 pistol with serial number 1109334, a PNP-issued 9mm pistol with two extra loaded magazines and the buy-bust money paid to him by the poseur.

Dongbo said that they have placed the suspect under surveillance amid credible information that he has been selling loose firearms to criminal elements in Masbate province. He added Pahilino has also been linked to the known Bustillos Drug Group in the province and was also suspected to have operated a protection racket for some drug suspects in Masbate.

Gen. Eleazar has repeatedly warned erring police officers who continue their illegal activities that the PNP leadership will not hesitate to kick them out of the police force. Others may end up buried six feet under once they opt to fight it out with our good policemen, he added.

Listen to these words from the top cop: “Mahigit na limang libong pulis na ang natanggal sa serbisyo dahil sa iba’t-ibang kaso ng kalokohan at hindi kami titigil dito sa PNP na linisin ang aming hanay upang matiyak na karapat-dapat kaming pagkatiwalaan ng ating mga kababayan na aming pinagsisilbihan.”

CONGRATULATIONS TO RETIRED GEN. ALFRED CORPUS

On a personal note, I would like to congratulate my ‘tukayo,’ newly-retired Major General Alfred Corpus who has been appointed by President Duterte as the new Executive Director of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime based at Camp Crame.

The former PNP Director for Operations’ appointment order was signed by the President last October 28. The mistah of Gen. Eleazar from PMA ‘Hinirang’ Class of 1987 replaced retired Police Brig. Gen. Allan Guisihan of PMA Class 1983 who succumbed to COVID-19 last September.

Corpus will fit the job to a T as he has proven to be an outstanding and effective leader since he graduated from Fort del Pilar. The new PCTC director used to be a Tarlac police director, a Police Regional Office 12 director in Central Mindanao, a PNP DIPO-Western Mindanao director and later PNP Director for Operations.