The Philippine National Police (PNP) is not discounting the possibility that dismissed police sergeant Rodolfo Mayo, Jr. might be acquitted from the drug charges leveled against him in connection with the 990 kilos of shabu seized in Manila in October 2022.
PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jen Fajardo stressed that if that would happen, the police officials who tried to cover up the arrest of Mayo would have a lot of explaining to do over the issue of alleged attempt to bungle the illegal drugs operation.
“There is a possibility because it would appear that the arrest of Sgt. Mayo was just a scenario. And if it would result in the possible dismissal of the case against Sgt. Mayo, we will throw the same question for them because the resulting act of what they did would lead to the dismissal of the case against Sgt. Mayo,” said Fajardo.
Fajardo was reacting to the statement issued by retired police general Narciso Domingo, Jr., then head of the PNP-Drug Enforcement Group when the operation was carried out in Manila.
In a video posted on Facebook, Domingo denied the allegation of cover up and urged President Marcos to look into the case as he alleged that criminal syndicates may be manipulating the government over the issue.
But Fajardo said the CCTV footage retrieved at the course of the investigation revealed that Mayo was arrested hours before the supposed discovery of the 990 kilos of shabu inside a lending office owned by the police sergeant.
The investigation also revealed that the supposed arrest of Mayo near a bridge in Quiapo, Manila was just staged, including the illegal drugs seized from him.
“The CCTV footage cannot really lie. We saw the actions of the police as well as how some of the pieces of evidence were obtained from the lending office,” said Fajardo.
“So, again we should be the one throwing that question to general Domingo. Why did they allow those incidents to happen in the first place?,” she added.
Just surrender
Instead of ranting on social media, Fajardo said the best course of action is for Domingo to surrender and face the case leveled against him.
“As a former police officer and a senior officer as that, we expect si general Domingo to respect the rule of law,” said Fajardo.
At least 29 former and active police officers were charged and ordered arrested in connection with the P6.7 billion worth of drug haul in Manila, including Domingo and another retired general, Benjamin delos Santos.
Of the 29 former and active police officers, only nine of them remain unaccounted.
Another arrest warrant?
Fajardo said the CCTV footage and the investigation conducted on the shabu haul in Manila established anomalies during the course of the entire operation.
And this, she said, served as the basis in the filing of the case and eventually the issuance of an arrest warrant.
“We are also expecting another warrant of arrest that would be issued in the coming days for violation of Section 27, the misdeclaration or misappropriation of seized illegal drugs,” said Fajardo.
“What we are looking at was that there was really a deliberate attempt to cover what really transpired on that day Sgt. Mayo and Mr.( Ney) Atadero was arrested,” she added.