‘Faceless tipsters’ hailed in war on drugs

LUCENA CITY—The active participation of the community, particularly informants who choose to remain anonymous, played a key role in the fight against illegal drugs in Quezon, the top provincial police official said.

“Most of the successful drug busts were the results of valuable information provided by our growing number of faceless tipsters,” said Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan.

Between August last year to August this year, the Quezon police arrested 623 suspected drug pushers in 490 anti-drug operations and seized some P40 million worth of marijuana and shabu.

“No medals or any recognition will be enough to express our gratitude to our concerned citizen informants. They are the unknown heroes in the police war against illegal drugs,” said Ylagan.

Ylagan said police stations have been regularly receiving information on drug trades in the community through phone calls and text messages from anonymous sources.

He said most of the phone tipsters are believed to be young people “based (on) their voices” which, he added, was an indication that Quezon’s youngsters were not only staying away from drugs but were also actively joining the antidrug war.

On Thursday, authorities arrested a policeman, PO1 Marvin Marasigan, currently assigned to the Sariaya police, and Kevin John Quintos in a drug-bust operation in Real town. The two yielded 20 grams of shabu with an estimated street price of P236,000.

Last week, a team from the Sariaya police and the Quezon Provincial Anti-Organized Crime Group Task Force (QPAOCTF) raided a suspected drug den in the town’s Barangay Guis-Guis Talon and seized 476 grams of shabu estimated to be worth P5.2 million.

The main target, however, Reysol de Torres Paderon, an alleged big-time drug lord in the central part of the province, eluded the raiders. Lawmen arrested only two drug users caught sniffing shabu inside Paderon’s house.

The raid also yielded two .45-cal. pistols, pieces of jewelry and P234,000 in cash believed to be proceeds from illegal drug transactions.

On Aug. 13, National Bureau of Investigation operatives in Lucena raided a house that doubled as a drug den in Barangay Cotta and seized 32 grams of shabu.

Ylagan said there were no Quezon-based drug syndicates and that the shabu being spread in Quezon were mostly from Cavite province, Quiapo district in Manila and Taguig City.

Gov. David Suarez created QPAOCTF through Executive Order No. 19 in August to combat the proliferation of illegal drugs.