The Philippine National Police (PNP) hierarchy is now under deep scrutiny after an explosive "diagram" allegedly linking senior officials to cybersex and drug syndicates was leaked to media on Thursday. The sketch was prepared by a Bataan-based officer before he was shot dead in Mandaluyong City last week.
The diagram, a copy of which was furnished the Inquirer by a source in Camp Crame, was said to have been prepared by Chief Insp. Elmer Santiago before the April 16 ambush.
Santiago, a former intelligence officer on “floating status” at the Central Luzon Police-Regional Personnel Holding and Administrative Unit, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assailants while driving a Toyota Altis on Talumpong Street in Barangay Malamig. His wife Agnes, who was in the passenger seat, sustained injuries but survived the attack.
Days later, a Facebook page of a group calling itself the Anti-Drugs Advocate Laban ng Pamilyang Pilipino mentioned the existence of the “link diagram.”
In a statement, the Pasig City-based group said the diagram prepared by Santiago was supposed to be brought to PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima in a meeting to be arranged with the help of one of Santiago’s classmates in the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA).
But instead of handing the letter to Purisima, “his classmate gave the intelligence report to police officers included in the list,” the group alleged.
PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima on Thursday also ordered an investigation into allegations that ranking police officers, among them Santiago’s classmates from PNPA Class 1996, were behind the killing.
“The PNP chief has already directed the concerned units to take appropriate actions regarding the matter,” Senior Supt. Wilben Mayor, Purisima’s spokesperson, told reporters. “This is a sensitive issue.”
He said the PNP was looking into all the possible motives behind Santiago’s killing, including the possibility that he was silenced by colleagues being linked to organized crime. “We would really like to get to the bottom of this. We will ensure that the investigation will be fair and impartial,” he added.
As a move, the PNP has already ordered the relief of at least 25 policemen, among them six senior officials, whose names appeared in a “diagram”.
Director Carmelo Valmoria, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief, earlier ordered the administrative relief of Supt. Robin King Sarmiento, the deputy chief of the Parañaque City police office.
Sarmiento, one of Santiago’s classmates in the PNPA, was among the police officials identified in the diagram.
Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, Central Luzon police director, has also sacked 24 policemen, including 19 police noncommissioned officers, assigned in various municipal police stations in Bataan province listed in the diagram.--Source: Inquirer