The brutal war on drugs continues to take its toll on women, like Angelica Arrioja of Cebu City, who lose husbands, live-in partners and brothers to unidentified vigilantes and police officers. —JUNJIE MENDOZA/CEBU DAILY NEWS
CEBU CITY—The highest ranking police officer of Central Visayas has one word to describe the drug problem that is plaguing the region—atrocious.
Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, the region’s police director, said five of the country’s biggest drug lords are from Cebu and have bases of operations in the province.
The narcotics trade thrives because of protection by police and local government units, he said.
“If they did not enjoy protection, they would not have the guts to operate,” Taliño said of drug syndicates in the region.
Before assuming office as regional police chief on July 4, Taliño said officials in the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame had already cautioned him about a number of police officers protecting drug syndicates in Cebu.
“I was briefed in advance by officers in Camp Crame,” he said. “They gave me information and so when I arrived in Cebu I was careful,” he added.
As soon as he assumed office, Taliño said two officers had given him conflicting information about the drug trade in Cebu.
Confused, Taliño said he validated the reports and found that one of his informants is himself involved in the drug trade. He did not identify the officer, though.
The PNP had ordered the relief of the officer and his transfer outside Central Visayas.
Misleading
The officer, said Taliño, “tried to distort intelligence information so I would get it wrong.”
“It’s but proper to remove him from the region,” said Taliño of the officer who misled him, who is among 200 policemen in Central Visayas relieved from their posts since July 1.
While the orders relieving the officers did not specify the reasons for the relief, Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, PNP chief, said the officers are involved in the drug trade.
Taliño said an investigation continues on the death of suspected drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, who was killed by Cebu-based policemen in an operation in Las Pinas City in Metro Manila on June 17.
“There have been reports that Jaguar was killed by the police to silence him,” said Taliño. “I am waiting for the results of the investigation,” he said.
Diaz, tagged as Central Visayas’ biggest drug lord, was one of the five top drug suspects who operated from Cebu.
The four others are Peter Lim, Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr., Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria and Franz Sabalones.
Espinosa and Sabalones had confessed their involvement in the drug trade. Secretaria was killed in a police operation on Banacon Island in Bohol on May 28.
The Central Visayas PNP, said Taliño, expects other members of drug syndicates run by Diaz, Espinosa, Secretaria and Sabalones to take over their operations.
Lim, whose name repeatedly cropped up in drug investigations since early 2000, denied involvement in the drug trade.
Another Cebuano, retired police general Vicente Loot, now mayor of Daanbantayan town, Cebu province, was among the five top police officers identified as drug protectors by President Duterte in July.
Aside from Loot, also named drug protectors by the President were retired Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo Jr., Director Joel Pagdilao and Chief Superintendents Bernardo Diaz and Edgardo Tinio.
Loot repeatedly denied involvement in drugs.
Talino said there are still a number of policemen in Central Visayas involved in the drug trade, based on monitoring by the regional police.
“I have a list of these policemen and it’s being validated,” said Talino. “What I am sure about is that there are still some police drug protectors in the region,” he said.