Oscar Albayalde, a former Philippine National Police chief, was indicted for covering his subordinates in the 2013 drug case.

"Prosecutors found a suitable base to prosecute Albayalde for failing to punish subordinate officers accused of failing to return 163 kg of drugs and 9.7 million pesos ($ 191,000) of cash collected in the process. November 2013 drug raid in Pampanga province, north of Manila, "the Philippine Ministry of Justice yesterday released a statement.

Police chief Albayalde is believed to have intervened to prevent his officers from being prosecuted in connection with the incident. If convicted, the former Philippine National Police commander can face up to 10 years in prison.

In addition to Albayalde, 13 Filipino police officers were also charged with corruption and bribery in a drug case in Pampanga.

The allegations against Gen. Albayalde were first considered at a Senate Senate hearing in October 2019, but he denied. Albayalde later resigned and was accepted, but stated that his decision was not related to the allegations.

In a statement yesterday after receiving the decision to prosecute, Albayalde said that this is an opportunity for him to vindicate himself. "I finally got to go to court one day," he said.

This is not the first time the police have been accused of abusing power and corruption in the fight against drugs in the Philippines, where police forces have the right to open fire on the spot if drug suspects commit acts of fighting or running. hide. This power is so great that many people fear that Filipino police may use it to suppress political opponents or abuse their power for self-interest.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte twice suspended the campaign because the national police were accused of corruption and murder. However, the Albayalde case is considered the biggest "dark cloud" for the country's police force in the anti-drug campaign.

Since President Duterte launched the 2016 anti-drug war, Philippine national police said more than 6,600 people were killed in the operation. However, independent UN supervisors believe that in fact more than 27,000 people may have been shot dead by police during operations without trial.