SOCIAL MEDIA TRUMP ROGUE COPS This photo of armed men brandishing weapons as they stop a sport utility vehicle right on Edsa in broad daylight went viral on social media—and produced results. TWITTER PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The woman tied to the robbery-abduction incident on Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (Edsa) remains a mystery even to some anti-illegal drugs officials.
Spokespersons of both the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (PNP AIDSOTF) denied hearing the names “Norminda Galo” or “Amira Salik,” which were linked to a suspect behind the brazen robbery on Edsa last September 1.
In an earlier Philippine Daily Inquirer report, a source said that Galo was purportedly the contact of Senior Inspector Oliver Villanueva and dismissed Inspector Marco Polo Estrera, two of the police suspects in the Edsa heist.
She allegedly operates in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Lanao del Sur.
The Lanao del Sur-based victims identified Salik as the woman who contacted them prior to the fake police operation.
But Chief Inspector Roque Merdegia, PNP AIDSOTF spokesperson, said neither the names Salik nor Galo has cropped up in the course of intelligence investigations at the agency since 2006.
Merdegia, however, said the woman might have used different names in her transactions to conceal her identity.
In the Inquirer report, former PDEA director Dionisio Santiago said Galo was escorted by PNP AIDSOTF members, who are graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy Class of 2001, when she suspected she was being pursued by PDEA intelligence agents in 2009.
This was refuted by Merdegia. “There are no Class of 2001 [personnel] assigned to AIDSOTF. No Class of 2001 member of the AIDSOTF ever escorted Galo.”
He said no AIDSOTF personnel, neither an official or non-commissioned officer, escorted Galo.
“We’re really puzzled why they are implicating AIDSOTF personnel here,” he added.
Speaking for PDEA, spokesperson Derrick Carreon said the anti-narcotics agency never listed Galo’s name as a drug personality.
Carreon said the police suspects in the incident, who claimed that the operation was an anti-illegal drugs operation, did not even coordinate with PDEA.
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