(Eagle News)–Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Thursday, March 7, defended National Capital Region Police Office chief Guillermo Eleazar, saying his outburst against an erring policeman was “understandable” and merely a “manifestation of frustration.”
“It was a classic case of a ‘father losing his cool over his son’s behavior’ with the goal of correcting it and sending a message to his other children that bad behavior will not be tolerated in his household,” Año said.
Instead, Año ordered the Philippine National Police to “intensify its internal cleansing program until all the bad eggs and rotten cops of the police service are weeded out.”
He said there was, after all, “no place in the PNP for police scalawags, especially those who extort money from drug personalities.”
“They are not only a disgrace to their uniform but to the good men and women of the PNP, many of whom have given their lives in the relentless anti-drug campaign of the administration,” he added.
Eleazar has drawn reactions after he publicly scolded and collared the Eastern Police District’s Corporal Marlo Quibete, who had been arrested for allegedly extorting money from the kin of a drug suspect in exchange for the dropping of charges against him.
Eleazar also sacked the entire Eastern Police District drug enforcement unit where Quibete was assigned, and the EPD director for command responsibility.
Eleazar has apologized to the public for his behavior but refused to apologize to Quibete, who he said deserved the treatment.
President Rodrigo Duterte and Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde also defended Eleazar.