35 Negros policemen linked to drug payola

A top drug suspect in Negros Occidental province has named 35 policemen, including police officials, who allegedly received protection money from one of the major illegal drug groups operating in the province.

In a nine-page affidavit subscribed on Jan. 13, Ricky Serenio also claimed that five agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), three agents of the National Bureau of Investigation and two former radio broadcasters received money from the Berya drug group.

Serenio, 34, said the policemen received protection money of P5,000 weekly up to P500,000 monthly for raiding and arresting drug pushers who were rivals of the Berya drug group.

The Berya group is one of the three main drug groups that police said were operating in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental province.

Allegedly headed by suspected drug lord Victoria “Berya” Tolentino, the group reportedly supplies a minimum of 15 kilograms of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochoride) a month to clients in Bacolod and Negros Occidental, Serenio said in his affidavit.

Police arrested Serenio on Jan. 7 and initially detained him at the Talisay City police station.

But on Jan. 13, Judge Eduardo Sayson of the Bacolod City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 54 ordered him moved to the Pulupandan town police station, under the care and custody of Pulupandan Mayor Miguel Peña and the mayor’s father, former Mayor Magdaleno Peña, now a PDEA consultant.

Sayson granted Serenio’s request for transfer due to security concerns.

In his affidavit, Serenio identified police officers and noncommissioned officers among those who received protection money from suspected drug lord Tolentino.

He said three hold the rank of superintendent and received P20,000 weekly to P500,000 monthly; three with rank of chief inspector, who received P10,000 to P40,000 weekly; two with rank of senior inspector, P10,000 to P30,000 weekly; and other lower-ranked policemen who received P30,000, P10,000 and below weekly.

Among those Serenio named was Senior Supt. William Señoron, Negros Occidental police director, who denied Serenio’s allegations.

Señoron described Serenio’s accusation as “lies, innuendoes and baseless.”

He said he was a victim of a “name-and-shame” strategy by those who wanted him out of the province.

“What led (Serenio) to drag my name in his supposed affidavit is a million-dollar question that you and I can easily answer,” he said. “Serenio has allowed himself to be transformed into somebody else’s mad dog.”

Serenio claimed he worked as an “asset” of the city anti-illegal drugs unit in March 2015.

He said he gave the money to some police officials from March 2015 to August 2016.