A DAVAO City-based member of the Police Security and Protection Group became the latest member of the Philippine National Police to be unmasked as a drug-using policeman and would be dismissed from the force this year, PNP chief, General Debold M. Sinas told the Journal Group.
The top cop has ordered the disarming and conduct of summary dismissal proceedings on Corporal Donree Adug, a member of the Regional Police Security and Protection Unit who became the latest member of the police force to test positive for substance abuse.
Barking instructions from his hospital room last week, the PNP chief ordered PSPG director, Brigadier Gen. Ferdinand A. Sifuentes, to also relieve Adug from the RPSPU 11 and assign him to their Personnel Holding and Administrative Unit.
“I want the immediate conduct of summary dismissal proceedings on this erring cop and his dismissal from the police force within two months,” Sinas said.
Adug was among the 41 members of the RPSPU 11 who were subjected to a drug test inside Camp Captain Domingo Leonor in Davao City by the PNP Crime Laboratory last Monday.
Of the 41, only Adug tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine which is a prohibited drug during the initial screening test and a subsequent confirmatory test, said the PNP chief. The rest were negative for shabu and THC-metabolites or marijuana.
“We have identified another drug-using policeman in our organization and will be ensuring his immediate dismissal. To assure the public that there is no room for drug users in the PNP and despite the pandemic, we will be continuing the conduct of random drug tests nationwide to ferret out any of our personnel who are into illegal drug use,” Sinas told the Journal Group.
PNP Officer-in-Charge, Lieutenant Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, said the PSPG personnel will be undergoing a pre-charge investigation and summary hearing procedure which are the requirements for his dismissal from the police organization.
Adug became the 3rd member of the PNP who were recommended for dismissal last week.
The two others are Cpl. Christian Cerado, a member of the Parañaque City Police Station and Staff Sergeant Ildefonso dela Cruz Jr. of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office.
Both also tested positive for shabu.
As a result, Sinas ordered National Capital Region Police Office(NCRPO) director, Major Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr. and Police Regional Office 6 director, Brigadier Gen. Rolando F. Miranda to relieve the two from their present position and reassign them to their Regional Personnel Holding Administrative Unit so they can be accounted for daily.
Sinas also ordered the recall of the two policemen’s PNP-issued firearms and other issuances.
He also instructed the directors of the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management and the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management to monitor the progress of the criminal and administrative cases filed against the three and see to it that his instructions arefollowed to the hilt.
Sinas also ordered the PNP Directorate for Intelligence to put the three erring policemen on their watch list and determine the identities of their fellows and how long have they been into illegal drug use.
It turned out that Cerado was one of the 82 Parañaque City policemen who were subjected to a drug test inside their station on the morning of February 24. All 82 but Cerado tested positive for shabu use.
Dela Cruz was one of the 344 members of the Iloilo PPO’s Drug Enforcement Unit and different Iloilo Police Station Drug Enforcement Teams who underwent a mandatory drug test at the Iloilo PPO headquarters in Sta. Barbara municipality last February 18.
Sinas earlier instructed all 17 police regional office directors to speed up the disposition of administrative cases filed against their erring policemen specifically those who have tested positive for substance abuse.
Sinas said he wants the summary dismissal proceedings on the drug-using policemen finished by the NCRPO within two months.
The PNP chief said the RDs will have the authority to conduct special summary hearing on their erring members. “Starting this year, I have signed the order. All drug cases shall be resolved by the RDs immediately and centralized na ang recording. We have procured more drug test kits, lalo na sa Drug Enforcement Units to detect users.
“I-resolve agad ng RDs in 2-month time, the maximum ang case kasi nandun na ang tao, ang evidence, and prosecution,” Sinas said.
The PNP chief said he issued the order noting that the PNP Internal Affairs Service in the past has failed ‘miserably’ in doing its job to immediately dismiss drug-using policemen.
He cited the cases of 13 of his men from the PRO7 in Central Visayas who tested positive for shabu when he was still the PRO7 director in 2019. “Hanggang ngayon, hinahanap ko pa yung mga yun,” he said.
Sinas said he experienced the same again when he became the NCRPO director and discovered that a number of Metro Manila policemen who were found to be positive for shabu were still receiving their salaries and were even alerted for COVID-19 duties.
“Ang test case ng mga RDs ngayon ay yung 18 na nag-positive sa droga starting this year. Their investigation of the administrative case will be monitored by the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management and the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management. I want them to resolve these cases within a two-month period,” he said last month.
According to Danao, the immediate disposition of administrative cases against erring NCRPO officers and men is among his flagship programs in line with their reinvigorated internal disciplinary mechanism effort and his own Oplan LITIS or Litisin and Tiwalag at Iskalawag na Miyembo ng Kapulisan.
