By Aaron Recuenco The expression “malayo sa kusina” (far from the kitchen) aptly describes Oscar Albayalde when the successor of Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa was being considered in early 2017. Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde
(AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) Albayalde is neither among the so-called “Davao Boys” in the Philippine National Police (PNP) nor does he have any connection to Malacañang, except probably his cabalen former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a close politi­cal ally of President Duterte. But the position entrusted to him by Dela Rosa, who described him as his smartest classmate at the Philip­pine Military Academy Class 1986, as director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and how he maximized his own media exposure spelled out a big difference in his career path. His rise to fame began when he diligently conducted surprise inspection of police precincts in the wee hours of the morning and catch policemen sleeping while on duty inside police precincts and making the rounds of the streets of Metro Manila on board his bike to check on his subordinates – something that police chiefs before him did not do. Because of this, he was projected as a strict disciplinarian that the PNP wanted amid scandals involving scalawag policemen. All of a sudden, he became a contender for the top PNP post and caught the attention of President Duterte. In one of his talks, President Duterte said he was weighing the recommendations for the next PNP chief and most were wary of Albay­alde because he was a strict official. This tilted the scales in favor of Albayalde. “He really worked hard on his way to the top. That is undisputed fact,” a police official close to Albayalde told the Manila Bulletin. And he did not disappoint. After his appointment, Albayalde initiated actions against scalawag policemen and put in place preven­tive measures against erring cops by subjecting all incoming policemen to commando training for six months. “This is to instill discipline among the recruits,” Albayalde said in one of the interviews. But then the ghost of the past caught up with him. A few weeks before his manda­tory retirement on November 8 at the age of 56, a drug recycling case that happened when he was still the provincial police director of Pam­panga in 2013 was tackled in the Senate and ranking police officers who conducted an investigation on the alleged anomalous drug opera­tion were called in to shed light on the incident. The Senate was told how the un­usual lifestyle of 13 Pampanga cops piqued the interest of then PNP Chief Alan Purisima to initiate a probe that revealed a missing 160 kilos from the 200 kilos of shabu seized by the 13 operatives from the drug raid at a house in Mexico, Pampanga that was initially reported as a buy-bust, how police procedures were not followed, the presentation of a fall guy in place of the real Korean drug lord who re­portedly was set free after buying his freedom for P50 million, the missing high end vehicles, and the missing bundles of cash. Nightmare The Senate hearing became a nightmare when a police general told senators that Albayalde intervened in the dismissal of the 13 cops involved in the drug operation. Another gen­eral told the senators that Albayalde allegedly admitted to him about get­ting “little” from that controversial drug operation when he learned that the unit was being investigated. The bitterness of Albayalde showed when he attacked his main accuser – retired police general Benjamin Magalong – in media interviews a day after the first Sen­ate hearing, accusing him of being envious because he did not become chief PNP. “It was a mistake for him. The person he attacked is one of the well-respected officers of the PNP. But we cannot blame him (Albayalde), maybe the accusations really affected him,” another police official said. Retired officers of the PNP have also started sharing their opinion in the social media, most of them have called for Albayalde to resign to save the PNP form further embar­rassment. The same sentiments were aired in various social media pages of ac­tive and retired policemen. All of a sudden, the once admired top PNP official felt abandoned and, betrayed even by his own mistahs (classmates at the PMA). All of a sud­den, the once snappy police officer began slouching in his seat during the Senate investigation. All of a sudden, he found him­self standing on the shoes of the sleepyhead policemen whom he had humiliated in front of television cameras. On Monday during the regular flag-raising ceremony at Camp Crame in Quezon City, he announced that he was giving up the fight. READ MORE: Albayalde steps down as PNP chief