Top Philippine cop resigns after accusation of link to drug scandal

MANILA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The Philippines' police chief
stepped down on Monday less than a month before his retirement,
after he was accused of involvement in "recycling" confiscated
drugs, an allegation that could undermine the government's
anti-narcotics campaign.
President Rodrigo Duterte has made a bloody war on drugs his
signature campaign, to the approval of most voters, despite
international outrage about the bloodshed amid fears many
suspected dealers have been killed by police in staged
encounters and by death squads.
Duterte has rejected the accusations.
In testimony that has raised questions about the
government's campaign, witnesses in Senate inquiries have
accused police chief Oscar Albayalde of protecting officers who
sold confiscated narcotics back onto the black market.
Albayalde denied the accusations and had ruled out
resigning.
On Monday, he referred to the hearing and the fact he was
being implicated in the scandal and said he was stepping down to
make way for a new police chief.
"After careful thought and deliberation, I have come to the
decision to relinquish my post as chief of the Philippine
National Police," Albayalde said in the speech to police
officers.
Albayalde, the second chief of the 191,000-strong force
under Duterte, was the head of the Pampanga provincial police
when 13 of its officers were accused of stealing about 160 kg
(353 lb) of narcotics seized in a 2013 raid.
Albayalde had sought to prevent the dismissal of the 13,
Senate witnesses said.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo told ANC news channel
that perhaps Albayalde was stepping down because he had had
enough of the "the accusations, the innuendos".
"He wants to spare the entire organisation from whatever
speculations, bad or false about him and the organisation,"
Panelo said.
Albayalde was set to retire on Nov. 8.
The police are spearheading the anti-drugs campaign. They
say they have killed more than 6,700 suspected drug dealers who
resisted arrest, and deny involvement in the mysterious killing
of thousands more suspected drug users.
But Duterte has at times criticised the force, once deriding
it as "rotten to the core" and twice suspending anti-narcotics
operations until the police cleaned up the force.
The thousands of killings, mostly of poor urban people, have
alarmed rights groups. The 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council
in July approved a resolution to investigate the crackdown.
Duterte condemned the proposed investigation.