Slain drug lord’s group still alive, says top narc

INMATES at the Cebu provincial jail are ordered to strip down and squat during a raid that yielded drugs and other contraband. CHRISTIAN MANINGO/CEBU DAILY NEWS

CEBU CITY—The drug lord is dead. Long live his syndicate.

This is apparently what is happening in Central Visayas, according to a ranking official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the region.

Yogi Filemon Ruiz, PDEA Central Visayas chief, said although drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz has been dead for two months already, the syndicate that he formed and led is still alive.

Ruiz said the supply of drugs coming from Jaguar’s group continued to find its way to users, including those inside the Cebu City jail.

Drug couriers, pretending to be relatives of inmates on a visit, and jail guards in the payroll of Jaguar’s syndicate are behind the entry of drugs in the city jail, according to Ruiz.

Ruiz issued the statement after authorities seized at least 70 grams of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) and at least P4 million in cash, believed to be proceeds from drug sales, during raids on the city jail and the Cebu provincial detention and rehabilitation center in the village of Kalunasan.

Forty-eight sachets of shabu, with a street value of P240,000, were found inside huts in the city jail occupied by Mark Entece, Marlon Ferolino and Jerome Miñoza, Ruiz said.

“They refused to cooperate. They would rather be killed than to cooperate with us,” he said. They will be charged with illegal possession of drugs on top of their drug cases.

Diaz had been killed by policemen in Las Piñas City.

The war on drugs continues to claim lives elsewhere.

In Monkayo town, Compostela Valley province, a man tagged as a top drug suspect was shot dead by unidentified assailants.

According to Supt. Jay Dema-ala, Monkayo police chief, the drug suspect, Arnel Manalo, 42, of the village of Poblacion, Monkayo, was buying grilled chicken at the public market when one of the assailants approached and shot Manalo in the head repeatedly. Manalo died instantly.

The gunman fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice, Dema-ala said.

Manalo, according to Dema-ala, is Monkayo’s No. 1 drug suspect and among 1,784 suspects who had surrendered to the local police.

In Central Mindanao, authorities have counted 50 drug suspects dead so far since the war on drugs began on July 1, the second day in office of President Duterte.

Supt. Romeo Galgo Jr., Central Mindanao police chief, said the 50 suspects were killed in clashes with police who were carrying out Oplan Tokhang in the provinces of South and North Cotabato, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat and the cities of Cotabato, Koronadal, General Santos, Kidapawan and Tacurong.

The police operations, Galgo said, were legitimate. Some were backed by court orders while others were buy-bust operations, he said.

In Central Mindanao from July 1 to Aug. 15, at least 570 suspects were arrested while 22,650 surrendered, Galgo said. Carmel Loise Matus, Inquirer Visayas with Charlie Senase, Frinston Lim and Orlando Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao