09 October 2017•Update: 13 October 2017
By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Over a year after accusing them of protecting drug cartels, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has given two high-ranking policemen their walking papers.
Former Capital Region Chief Superintendent Joel Pagdilao and Edgardo Tinio, former chief superintendent in the Philippines’ largest city, Quezon, were sacked from the police on Thursday by Duterte’s top aide Salvador Medialdea, acting under Duterte’s authority, a presidential spokesman said Monday.
They had lost their supervisory posts in July 2016 after Duterte publicly named them among five top police officers acting as "protectors of drug syndicates".
Following an investigation, spokesman Ernesto Abella said Thursday’s decision found both officers “administratively liable for serious neglect of duty and serious irregularity in the performance of duty, and have been duly dismissed.”
“Evidence shows both generals deliberately refused, without cause, to perform their duties as police officers, resulting in the proliferation of drugs in their areas of jurisdiction,” he said.
When asked by reporters if the two would face criminal charges, Abella said he did not know.
