NBI: No proof politics behind policeman’s drug ring exposé

An official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Tuesday said that based on the documents provided to them by a supposed whistle-blower, they have yet to find proof that politics was behind his exposé.

“We did not find any link to any political clan in the city,”  Renoir Baldovino, acting chief of the NBI antigraft division, told the Inquirer after he was asked whether the allegations made by PO3 Alexander Saez was connected to next year’s elections.

He also said that so far, they have no proof that members of a prominent political clan in Taguig were involved in the drug trade.

Earlier, one of the Taguig City police officials Saez had accused of being involved in “drug recycling” or the reselling of illegal drugs seized during operations branded the allegations against him and his men as “the handiwork of a drug syndicate.”

In a statement, Taguig police chief Senior Supt. Tomas Apolinario Jr. said he and members of the police station’s antinarcotics team “began to earn the ire of local syndicates” when they arrested Elisa Tiñga whom he described as a “big fish” and a “prominent member of the notorious Tiñga drug syndicate.”

Reports have linked her to the Tiñgas in Taguig City, prompting Rep. Freddie Tiñga to brand these as part of a smear campaign against him and his family.

Baldovino, meanwhile, said that they have started looking into Saez’s allegations against Apolinario and several other policemen.  He added that they would subpoena Apolinario to allow him to respond to the charges against him.