Inmate Colangco to testify vs De Lima in House drug probe

Convicted robber and drug dealer Herbert “Ampang” Colangco is one of the high profile inmates that will testify against Senator Leila de Lima in the congressional inquiry next week on the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country’s major prison facility, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Friday.

Colangco is one of the names in the drug matrix presented by President Rodrigo Duterte as among the convicts inside the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) who still managed to continue operations despite incarceration. Also in the matrix are De Lima, her former driver Ronnie Dayan and another drug convict, Peter Co.

Colangco also managed to shoot music videos inside prison and donated millions of pesos to the Bilibid hospital. He, along with 18 other high profile inmates were moved to the National Bureau of Investigtion (NBI) in late 2014 after authorities discovered that they were living a posh lifestyle inside Bilibid. From NBI, they were moved to Bilibid’s Building 14, a highly secured facility separate from the maximum security compound.

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“There are 10 to 12 high profile inmates that will testify kasama si Colangco dun (Colangco is one of them),” Aguirre said.

“They have agreed to testify,” he said but pointed out that there are no concessions or agreement in exchange for their testimony.

Aside from the high profile inmates, Aguirre said a former NBI director and NBI agents will testify against De Lima. CDG/rga

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