MANILA, Philippines – Consider them relieved.  

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa on Monday, August 22, announced the relief of Antipolo City police with alleged ties to illegal drugs minutes after the first day of the Senate’s probe into the police’s campaign against illegal drugs.

“Effective today, I’ll relieve those cops. I will place them under admin holding area. I’ll ask the Internal Affairs Service to conduct an investigation. If it’s proven that those police in Antipolo are involved in drugs, the entire police station, I’ll relieve them. Even the commander,” said Dela Rosa in a chance interview with media after the hearing. (WATCH: Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings)

One of the witnesses during the legislative probe, Mary Rose Aquino, said that police in Antipolo were responsible for the distribution and sale of illegal drugs in their area. Aquino is the daughter of Rodelio and Rosalie Campos, alleged victims of summary executions in the hands of police. 

Rodelio was a small-time drug pusher in their area, Aquino admitted. His wife, Rosalie, typically tagged along when he did business. 

Aquino was one of 12 witnesses presented by Senator Leila de Lima, chairperson of the Senate committee on human rights and justice, on the first day of a probe into the rise of drug-related killings and deaths since the PNP under President Rodrigo Duterte launched a nationwide campaign to curb the use and spread of illegal drugs. 

The investigation is also looking into allegations that some policemen were resorting to summary executions and extralegal means in their operations. 

Aquino, speaking before the Senate, said that police themselves were marijuana users and even smoked the illegal substance in their home. Her father, said Aquino, was also a “police asset.” 

In her sworn affidavit, Aquino identified at least 9 cops by name, with ranks ranging from Chief Inspector to Police Officer 1. 

But during the hearing itself she did not identify the cops. “Maraming beses na rin nagplano mga magulang ko na kumalas sa mga gawain in pulis subalit hindi natuloy sa takot na sila ay patayin o itumba ng mga ito (Several times my parents planned to let go of the illegal drugs trade but it never pushed through because they were afraid that the police would kill them),” she in her sworn statement. 

The Campos couple left their home on June 20, after receiving a call from a certain “Rabe.” By midnight, Aquino’s parents were already inside a morgue in Antipolo City. – Rappler.com