Rodrigo Duterte attends a session of Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Bangkok on Saturday. Agence France-Presse

Manolo B. Jara

President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte admitted he was having difficulty in choosing a new chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) as he revealed he could have been “blindsided” by his allies in his appointment of a senior officer accused of allegedly coddling “ninja” cops or those recycling illegal drugs seized in raids for resale to the public.

“Nobody told me about the incident in Pampanga. I didn’t know all crimes in the Philippines before I became president,” Duterte told Malacanang Palace reporters in an interview in a mix of Filipino and English after he visited the tombs of his parents in their hometown of Davao City in Mindanao on Thursday night.

In particular, Duterte was referring to the case of General Oscar Albayalde who resigned as the PNP chief before reaching his mandatory retirement age of 56 on Nov.8 after he was linked to the ninja cops in 2013.

Several hearings carried live on TV by the powerful Senate Blue Ribbon Committee disclosed the alleged link of Albayalde to the 13 erring policemen who raided the house of a suspected drug lord in Pampanga province in Central Luzon where he served as the police chief.

An initial report submitted by Senator Richard Gordon, the committee chairman, said testimonies by retired and incumbent PNP senior officers indicated that Albayalde’s men allegedly reported the seizure only of more than 30 kilogrammes of the illegal drug shabu (crystal meth) instead of the total of 300 kilogrammes.

In addition, Albayalde’s men also allegedly extorted $20,000 in cash from the suspected drug lord in exchange for his release and the non-filing of charges of illegal drugs against him, according to the report.

Gordon also warned that despite his resignation, Albayalde who vehemently denied coddling his men, could still be held liable and be charged with graft and other criminal cases.

As such, Duterte said he was still conducting a “deep background check” among the three senior PNP officers recommended by Secretary Eduardo Ano of the Department of Interior and Local Government  (DILG) as possible successor of Albayalde.

He also admitted  “it was very hard” to find and entrust with such a great responsibility the new head of the 190,000-strong national police, the lead agency in the government violent and bloody war on illegal drugs.