Caloocan City police officers who were suspended just last month for allegations of corruption and abuse will be among the police and military officers assigned with securing the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Manila. More than 20 world leaders, including United States President Donald Trump, are expected to attend the annual summit.

READ: Trump to attend ASEAN Summit in Manila

This is their first assignment after being required to do a 30-day “retraining” program.

These cops were not just accused of accepting the occasional bribe, but were implicated in extrajudicial killings and robberies. This includes the death of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, who was seen on CCTV cameras being brought to an alley where he was shot during an anti-drug operation. Officers from this police department were also caught on CCTV robbing a home in September.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) fired 62 Caloocan City cops due to these events, while more than 1,000 of the force’s personnel were relieved of their duties to undergo “re-training” before being sent to other precincts. Simply put, the city’s police force was disbanded.

According to police data, of 6,225 people killed in the government’s war on drugs, at least 3,850 were killed in police operations for allegedly “fighting back” with police officers. The Commission on Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, however, peg the total number of extrajudicial killings at over 13,000.

According to a survey released last month, 63 percent of respondents living in Metro Manila, where most of the killings are happening, believe that many of those killed in anti-drug operations did not actually violently resist arrest.

“They are in training until now. [The training] is for 30 days; they will end sometime near the end of the month. [It will end] before the ASEAN [Summit] because we will deploy them for ASEAN duties,” National Capital Region Police Office Director Oscar Albayalde said in an interview yesterday with ABS-CBN morning show Umangan Kay Ganda.

Only a month prior to its wholesale disbanding, the Caloocan City station was named “Best City Police Station” in the National Capital Region.

In the same Umagang Kay Ganda interview, Albayalde described the ASEAN Summit as a high-security event. So it makes perfect sense to give the “newly retrained” officers the task of protecting foreign diplomats and high-ranking government officials during their visit to Manila as their first assignment.

Ummm … OK.

But not to worry, Albayalde said they will have the support of the Philippine military in accomplishing this task.

And they have about 18 more days to prepare before dignitaries start arriving for the summit on Nov. 10.

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