Pol clan men with links to drugs present selves to cops

SAN PABLO CITY—Four members of the Amante clan, which has dominated local politics in the city since the early 1990s, had turned themselves in to authorities as the government’s war on drugs intensifies.

Sources from police and the city government said Gener Amante Jr., also known as “Palapa,” and his brother, Joey, presented themselves to the city police some two weeks ago and vowed to submit the names of sources of illegal drugs here. After that, two more Amantes—Dadan and another cousin, Ian—also turned themselves in.

The recent turn of events here is proof that the government’s antidrug campaign spares no one, said Mayor Loreto “Amben” Amante. The mayor is son of former mayor Vicente Amante, 68, the clan’s patriarch.

Some members of the Amante clan, who rose to power when Vicente was elected mayor in 1992, have been linked to the drug trade in Laguna.

Gener Jr. and Joey are Mayor Amben Amante’s cousins. They are sons of incumbent village chief and Association of Barangay Councils president Gener Amante. Dadan is son of incumbent Laguna provincial Board Member Dante Amante while Ian is the mayor’s third cousin.

Police, however, have no word on the whereabouts of the mayor’s uncles, Edwin and Damaso, who had also been linked to the illegal drug trade.

Vicente, Gener, Dante, Edwin and Damaso are brothers.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Supt. Raynold Rosero, city police chief, said Gener Jr. is also on the police’s drug watch list.

Rosero said the involvement of some members of the Amante family in illegal drugs “is common knowledge, even in [Camp] Crame (the Philippine National Police headquarters).”

“We did our research before I came here,” Rosero said, who assumed his post on July 1.

According to a police source, who asked not to be identified for fear of his safety, said the drug gang linked to the Amantes is capable of disposing half to a kilogram of shabu per week.

“That’s big,” the source said.