Poverty made me do it, 65-year-old drug suspect tells police

Suspect Angelo Reyes (right in handcuffs) stands beside Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, NCRPO chief, at the press conference on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. (Photo from the NCRPO Public Information Office)

MANILA, Philippines — When arrested by policemen in a buy-bust operation, 65-year-old Angelo Reyes said he got into the drug trade because of poverty.

His lifestyle, however, did not back up his claim. His family’s newly furnished three-story house stood out among the bungalows and shanties in Alley 12 on P. Rosales Street in Pateros.

Reyes, who went by the alias “Litong Pangit,” also drove a silver Toyota Corolla Altis. He claimed he bought it cheap from a “buy-and-sell” trader.

He was arrested on Tuesday afternoon by members of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) after he allegedly sold a kilo of “shabu” (crystal meth) to an undercover agent.

School, police station nearby

The transaction took place inside his car which was parked in front of his house, just a few steps away from an elementary school and a five-minute walk to the municipal police station.

Authorities seized from Reyes a total of 1.5 kilos of shabu worth P10.2 million hidden inside packs of tea bags.

According to the NCRPO chief, Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, Reyes was connected to a group of Chinese nationals engaged in large-scale drug trading in the southern part of Metro Manila and Laguna province.

Eleazar noted that the tea bag packaging, bearing the name “Guanyin Wang Refined Chinese Tea,” was similar to those seized by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, including the P1.1-billion haul found in Muntinlupa City’s Ayala Alabang Village.

He said that through their surveillance, the lawmen learned that Reyes was the drug gang’s “drop-off” person, whose job was to distribute the drugs, now repacked into smaller amounts, to smalltime pushers.

Barangay Santa Ana chair Benny Santidad had said that all the 22 alleys connected to the 2-kilometer P. Rosales Street harbored drug dens.

He noted that the area was perfect for drug deals: P. Rosales is wide enough for lookouts to spot policemen or village officials, while the narrow alleys provide an escape route for drug users familiar with the maze-like layout.