Former Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde was not forced to resign from his post, his former boss Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said today following Albayalde’s unexpectedly early departure yesterday.
In an interview with news television show Unang Balita, Año said Alabayalde told him about his impending resignation as early as last week.
“It was Wednesday last week when General Albayalde told me that he’s contemplating to relinquish his position. I told him, ‘Think about it first. After this Wednesday’s [Senate] hearing, you [can] decide what you really want,'” Año said.
“On Saturday, we talked about it. He was holding his letter. He said, ‘Sir, I am formally submitting this letter to you. This is my intention to relinquish my post,'” Año said. He added that President Rodrigo Duterte told him that he still trusted Albayalde and that he had no complaints about the way he performed his duties as PNP chief.
Before Duterte left for Russia last week, he said that he didn’t want to fire Albayalde, and wanted to give the then-PNP chief “the right to be heard… It should be given to a general of the Philippine National Police because under the laws, we’re all equal.”
Read: Duterte defends police chief accused of protecting dirty cops
Albayalde relinquished his post yesterday amid a Senate investigation into allegations that he protected his former subordinates who were accused of stealing hundreds of kilos of meth during a drug raid in Mexico, Pampanga in 2013, back when he was the province’s police chief.
His former colleagues at the PNP — Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino — have accused Albayalde of urging Aquino not to dismiss the policemen involved in the raid, whom the media dubbed “ninja cops.” To this day, the men involved in the 2013 bust remain on active duty, although the officers were demoted and temporarily sent to Mindanao.
Albayalde’s departure came earlier than expected, given that last week he announced that he would be stepping down on Oct. 29, just 10 days before his official retirement.
Despite his fall from grace, Albayalde will still be given his full retirement benefits, PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said yesterday. Banac told Rappler that Albayalde technically did not resign from his post, but rather went on “terminal leave.”
Read: Albayalde resigns as national police chief as ‘ninja cops’ issue reaches fever pitch
Albayalde had threatened to sue his accusers for dragging his name into the “ninja cops” controversy. Mayor Magalong told news program Early Edition that such a suit, should Albayalde file it, would just be used as a “smokescreen” to cover the former PNP chief’s “deception.”
“It’s deception to portray we are the ones lying and not him,” Magalong said, while still acknowledging that, if he were Albayalde, he would likely use the same strategy.
But, he added, “When everything is laid out and spelled out, the truth will come out that we are the ones who are actually telling the truth.”
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