Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said that he signed the approval for the dismissal of 80 policemen charged for different activities.
“Yung buong 84 napirmahan ko na resolution, meron akong binalik na mga tatlo or apat na kaso kasi nakita ko mabigat naman masyado na hindi lang nakakabayad ng utang dismiss mo kaagad para bang ayaw magbayad na utang ng pulis, dismiss mo agad,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
(Of the total 84 resolutions I signed, I remanded about three or four cases wherein the punishment of dismissal is too harsh for policemen who just did not pay their debt. It is like a simple offense of not paying debt, outright dismissal already for policemen.)
Some of the police officers who were dismissed include Superintendent Maria Christina Nobleza and Superintendent Lito Cabamongan.
Nobleza, formerly the acting director of Southern Mindanao regional police Crime Laboratory, was arrested in Bohol after trying to rescue wounded Abu Sayyaf members with her companion Renierlo Dongon, an alleged Abu Sayyaf member.
Dela Rosa said in an earlier interview that Nobleza first met Dongon when he was held at Camp Crame over the bombing in Maxandrea Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City in 2012.
Nobleza, 49, and Dongon, who’s in his 20s, were caught in Bohol province in April after they tried to drive past a checkpoint there.
A few members of the Abu Sayyaf were in Bohol last April in an attempt to kidnap tourists. They were killed after several days of operations.
Cabamongan, meanwhile, was then the chief of the Crime Laboratory of Muntinlupa when he was caught sniffing shabu (illegal drugs).