The tale of 13 ninjas

By: Artchil B. Fernandez

THE tale of 13 ninjas is not an alluring story set in medieval Japan. Neither is it a story about heroic characters. Instead, it is a dark tale about why the road to perdition is paved with good intention and a cautionary story about giving the power over life and death to flawed humans.

Tale of 13 ninjas (who are cops) began in November 2013 when they conducted a buy-bust operation in Mexico, Pampanga targeting Chinese drug lord Johnson Lee. The operation yielded 200 kilograms (kg) of shabu and the ninja cops found their gold mine. Instead of giving a full accounting of their find, the ninja cops officially declared they only seized 38 kg of shabu. They also allowed Johnson Lee to escape in exchange for a 50-million peso bribe and replaced with a fall guy, Ding Wenkun. The chief of police of Pampanga at that time is now PNP Chief General Oscar Albayalde.

February 2014, then PNP Chief Alan Purisima asked Major General Benjamin Magalong, then CIDG chief to investigate the ninja cops. Purisima got suspicious when these cops suddenly acquired SUVs and smelled bad something was going on.

Based on the results of the investigation, the 13 ninja cops were ordered suspended on March 2014. The investigation found the 13 ninja cops did not follow proper procedures in a buy-bust operation. These violations are: “the certification of seized evidence was signed the following day; confiscated items were not photographed with the arrested suspects; photos of the barangay official, media, and Department of Justice representatives who allegedly witnessed the confiscation were “taken elsewhere;” the cops did not request for the presence of the Scene of the Crime Operatives; and the inventory of the seized drugs was not done where the buy-bust happened.”

They were charged of mishandling of drug-related evidence or Section 27 of the Dangerous Drug Act which carries a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine between 500,000 and 10 million pesos. (Albayalbe was sacked as Pampanga police chief due to the case.)

November 2014, then Central Luzon police chief Raul Petrasanta ordered the dismissal from service of the 13 ninja cops but they received the order more than a year later (March 2016). They appealed their dismissal at the regional and national office. At the time of their appeal, Brig. Gen. Aaron Aquino assumed the post of Central Luzon police chief. Meanwhile, Albayalde was appointed police chief of NCR in July 2016.

In his testimony before the Senate hearing, retired major general and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong revealed Albayalde intervened on behalf of the 13 ninja cops. Retired brigadier general and now PDEA head Aaron Aquino confirmed Magalong’s statement disclosing that Albayalde asked him not to implement the dismissal of the 13 ninja cops when he was Central Luzon police head.

Aquino said Albayalde called him and inquired about the case of the 13 ninja cops.   “(But he (Albayalde) also added during the same [phone call] request, and I quote: ‘Sir, perhaps don’t implement the order for now.’ Then I asked him: ‘Why, Oca?,’  where he answered, ‘Because they are my men’).” Albayalde admitted calling Aquino but only to inquire about the case and not to intervene. But isn’t asking Aquino not to implement the dismissal order a form of intervention?

The story ended happily for the 13 ninja cops. In 2017, the case against them was amended.  Instead of dismissal, they were given a one-rank demotion.

Recycling of illegal drugs remains rampant within the police rank PDEA head Aaron Aquino revealed and this is modus of ninja cops. “When they seize drugs, maybe half of that will be surrendered. Or they will make it appear that the amount of seized drugs is less. While all the other ones are being kept for other future operations, or worse, [are sold].” Ninja cop is now a generic term for a policeman who engages in illegal drugs trade from recycling and selling to protecting drug lords

Recently it was revealed a drug queen freely sell illegal drugs in Manila at the height of the war against illegal drug due to the protection given by 16 ninja cops. She was identified by police Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) as Guia Gomez Castro, former chair of Barangay 484 Zone 48 in Sampaloc, Manila. Castro has three standing warrants related to illegal drugs but they were never served. Without the support and protection of ninja cops, Castro’s business would not flourish amidst the war on drugs. Now publicly identified, she quietly left the country last month most likely facilitated by the ninja cops.

The existence of ninja cops is the strongest argument against the war on illegal drugs. The Philippine National Police (PNP), the organization tasked to carry out the war is riddled with ninja cops and other rotten elements.  How can the war be successfully implemented if the very people who are tasked with the job are the ones engaged in illegal drugs? Current PNP chief Oscar Albayalde himself is linked by fellow police officers to these ninja cops.

There is no question illegal drugs are a menace to society and have to be eliminated.  But Oplan Tokhang or the “kill, kill, kill” approach which is the flagship program of Du30 is problematic since it gives the police the power of life and death over people. People are killed on the basis of suspicion without investigation. Cops, however, are not angels and as humans, they are prone to temptation. Enterprising elements within the PNP, the ninja cops took advantage of the war on drugs to enrich themselves – by recycling illegal drugs, protecting the drug lords and getting rid of their competitors.

Instead of eradicating the drug problem, the bloody and gory Tokhang worsened it, slaughtering along the way thousands (5,526 according to PDEA figures and 27,000 human rights groups’ estimate). Strict enforcement of the law coupled with cleansing the police rank of ninja cops and reforming the justice system are the answers among other reforms, not wholesale butchery of suspected drug addicts and pushers.