PDEA confirms drug links of Negros officials, police
Credit to Author: EUGENE Y. ADIONG| Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:51:12 +0000
BACOLOD CITY: The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) confirmed the links of some elected officials and police officers in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental to illegal drugs, based on the statement of a whistleblower.
Jose Tumabini, PDEA provincial chief, said a whistleblower came out over the weekend and named several politicians and police officers with connections to the illegal drug trade.
But Tumabini did not reveal the names of the alleged personalities on their list.
“We are still validating all the information,” he said, adding, “the direct connection of these prominent personalities to illegal drugs is not yet clear.”
“The validation and investigation is not an easy task,” he said, adding “Our cases against them must be air tight when filed in court.”
In a media conference over the weekend, the whistleblower said she had been in hiding for three years because of the grave threat to her life and her family.
She admitted to have engaged in the drug trade before as a courier, helping her godfather whom she tagged as a drug lord in southern Negros.
But the drug lord had retired and his son took over the operations in the south, she added.
Southern Negros Occidental is comprised of the towns of Binalbagan, Himamaylan, Ilog, Kabankalan, Cauayan, Candoni, Hinoba-an and Sipalay City.
In 2016, the whistleblower executed an affidavit and enumerated the names of those protecting and enjoying financial benefits from the drug trade.
“I have decided to help the government in its fight against illegal drugs. A lot of the police officers and even top elected officials are drug protectors and one of these officials is the mastermind of the illegal drug trade, killing people, filing charges against a lot of those who no longer serve his purpose. I gave that affidavit to a particular police officer who is now retired, but apparently, that affidavit fell into the hands of those very police officials whom I have named in my affidavit,” the whistleblower said.
“Since 2016, I have been receiving a lot of death threats. My family and I transfer from one place to another to ensure our safety. But now, we are already fed up and it’s high time that I speak out. We’ve had enough of those threats,” she said.
The post PDEA confirms drug links of Negros officials, police appeared first on The Manila Times Online.