BACOLOD CITY—The detention of a drug suspect by a Negros Occidental town mayor is stirring controversy among officials in the province.
Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said he will file a complaint at the Department of the Interior and Local Government and other agencies questioning the detention of drug suspect Ricky Serenio at the Pulupandan town police station under the custody of Moises Padilla Mayor Magdaleno Peña and his son, Pulupandan Mayor Miguel Peña.
The elder Peña is a consultant of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Marañon said he would also bring the matter up to Philippine National Police Director General Ronaldo “Bato” Dela Rosa.
Serenio, Marañon said, should not be in the custody of the Peña father and son, calling this “highly questionable.”
Threat
But Magdaleno defended the detention of Serenio at the Pulupundan jail saying the suspect “will die if he is placed in jails with other drug suspects.”
Serenio has executed an affidavit naming 35 policemen, including top police officials, who allegedly receive protection money from the Berya drug group, one of the main drug syndicates in the province.
He claimed the policemen receive from P5,000 weekly to P500,000 monthly in exchange for raiding and arresting drug pushers who are rivals of the Berya gang, which is allegedly headed by suspected drug lord Victoria “Berya” Tolentino.
Among those Serenio named was Senior Supt. William Señoron, Negros Occidental police director.
Serenio alleged in his affidavit that Señoron receives a payola of P200,000 a month, part of the total P1 million per month given to another police official.
Señoron has called Serenio’s allegations as “lies, innuendos and baseless accusations.”
Señoron earlier said Serenio “has become or has allowed himself to be transformed into somebody else’s mad dog.”
Marañon has defended Señoron.
“This is highly politicized,” the governor said.
Señoron is among several policemen who raided the house of Magdaleno Peña in 2013 and seized 90 firearms.