MANILA, Philippines – The police chiefs of the Eastern Police District (EPD) and Pasay City have been fired on Wednesday, March 6, after back-to-back extortion incidents involving the entire EPD and Pasay police station anti-drug units.

In a text message to reporters, Metro Manila police chief Director Guillermo Eleazar said EPD director Chief Superintendent Bernabe Balba and Pasay city police chief Senior Superintendent Noel Flores were relieved for command responsibility.

This means that they were sanctioned for the fault of their subordinates whom they were supposed to lead. The instruction, Eleazar said, came from police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde himself.

This comes after the EPD drug enforcement unit (DEU) was accused of extorting P60,000 from the family of a detained drug suspect in exchange for freedom. The same was allegedly done by the Pasay City police station 1 drug enforcement team (SDET), which supposedly asked for P100,000. 

Both units have been sacked, with its members set to face extortion charges. – Rappler.com