Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 4) — The Department of the Interior and Local Government sees no reason to charge the country's former top cop over the so-called "ninja cops" who were involved in a 2013 drug raid in Pampanga.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, DILG chief Eduardo Año said they could not find a link between former Philippine National Police chief PGen. Oscar Albayalde and the 13 ninja cops apart from "command responsibility."

Albayalde was Pampanga’s provincial director when the questionable drug raid happened.

"Sa administrative wala na kasi 'yun na rin ang decision at guidelines ng Pangulo. Du'n sa review, wala din kaming nakitang matigas na ebidensya para ma-link na involved si Albayalde du'n sa ginawa ng 13, except yung command responsibility," he said.

[Translation: There is no administrative because because the is the decision and guideline of the President. In the review, we saw no strong evidence linking Albayalde to what the 13 did, except command responsibility.]

Año added the statements made by other former generals against Albayalde were "allegations without substantial evidence."

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former chief of the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, has accused Albayalde of blocking the dismissal of the 13 Pampanga policemen who supposedly kept and peddled 160 kilos of shabu seized from the 2013 drug sting. The cops also allegedly got P50 million and new cars when they freed drug trafficker Johnson Lee.

However, Año said the investigations being handled by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice (DOJ) will be "a different thing."

"Sabi ng Pangulo bahala na ang Ombudsman and DOJ tingnan yung criminal liability ni Albayalde," he said.

[Translation: The President said it will be up to the Ombudsman and the DOJ to see whether Albayalde has any criminal liability.]

Amid the controversy, Albayalde stepped down as PNP chief on October 14, less than a month before his retirement from the service on November 8. Año said Albayalde was still entitled to his retirement benefits for now. But that could change depending on the results of the Ombudsman and DOJ probes.

Albayalde has consistently maintained his innocence over the allegations hurled against him, and Presidential Salvador Panelo earlier said President Rodrigo Duterte's trust and confidence in the former PNP chief was intact.