Former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief and now Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong believes Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Eduardo Ano would be fair and just in his investigation on the alleged complicity of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde on the Ninja cops controversy.

In an exclusive interview by Currentph.com News Service (CNS), Magalong says he has high regard on Ano who he believes is a fine officer and a gentleman. Ano is formerly President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff before his appointment as interior chief.

Ano is an alumnus of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1983.

Magalong came forward with the hearing, initially on the drug situation affecting the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), only to drop the bombshell of the involvement of Ninja cops in the recycling of seized drugs contraband, as one of the serious problems being faced by anti-drugs operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Aaron Aquino, meanwhile, verified Magalong’s claim of the existence of so-called Ninja cops even saying that his agency, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has records of about 56 ninja cops still in active service.

Aquino corroborated what Magalong told the Senate that in a meeting with Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde at the Manila Hotel, the chief of the PNP, Albayalde mentioned the status of 13 of his men who were placed under investigation in a drug operation which happened in Pampanga sometime 2013.

Albayalde was back then, the provincial PNP director. This raid initially netted kilos of shabu and a cash hoard of about 35 million pesos. Johnson Lee, the suspected drug lord, was reportedly released after paying a huge sum of money (50 million pesos? Eds).

In a phone conversation with former CIDG deputy chief Rudy Lacadin, Albayalde reportedly admitted that he reportedly got a “measly sum” from the operations. Albayalde has since vehemently denied ever sharing such thing with Lacadin whom the PNP chief threatened to sue.

Meanwhile, PNP spokesperson General Bernard Banac denied rumours of Albayalde’s resignation amidst the raging Ninja cops controversy. Banac assured the public that this controversy would not affect the morale and stability of the country’s police force.