Seaside resort owned by drug lord still open for business

PINKISH BEACH Holy Trinity Beach Resort, owned by slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, offers a tropical paradise of pinkish white sand beach, cottages and jet skis, and kayak and banana rides to visitors. —JUAN ESCANDOR JR.

MATNOG, SORSOGON — A beach resort called Holy Trinity and owned by slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz remains in business, an employee confirmed on Saturday.

The resort at Sitio Subic na Dako on the island barangay of Kalintaan is now being managed by a corporation, according to the employee, Jumar Dulay, who is a local councilor.

He would not reveal the company’s name.

Diaz was killed in a police buy-bust operation on June 19 in Las Piñas City in Metro Manila.

Place of tranquility?

The Inquirer learned that sometime earlier in April, a police chief superintendent allegedly celebrated his birthday for three days in what was described in its Facebook account as a “place of tranquility” facing the Pacific.

The Holy Trinity Beach Resort, which has 11 cottages with a swimming pool at the center, is decorated with life-sized comics superheroes.

It covers about a hectare-wide strip of the pinkish white sand beach.

Two jet skis, a banana boat and kayaks are available, with rates from P3,500 per hour for jet skiing, P2,000 per 15 minutes for eight persons for banana boats and P200 per hour for a kayak.

With fully air-conditioned rooms, excluding food, a single room costs P2,500; double, P3,500; cottages at P1,800 for two-bed capacity and P2,300 for four-bed capacity. A family room for 10 people costs P5,300 a day.

‘Christian’ to boatmen

Boatmen who ply the route between Matnog and Kalintaan revealed that Jaguar was known as Christian before he hogged the headlines in June when he was gunned down.

The informants requested anonymity for security reasons.

Jaguar reportedly went to the resort with bodyguards.

“He just stayed here for few minutes and would leave immediately,” said one source.

Construction of the resort started in 2012, and opened in 2014.

Tattooed Cebuano-speaking men had frequented the place, until news of Jaguar’s death broke out and the thugs disappeared.

When asked to react on the alleged birthday celebration of the top police officer at Holy Trinity in April, Chief Supt. Melvin Buenafe, Bicol director, said he would check if he was provided a name.

Cousin’s resort project

About a kilometer across the island, lies the unfinished resort of Jaguar’s cousin Reynaldo Diaz, a suspected drug dealer.

There, Reynaldo, in the company of six armed personnel of the Department of Justice (DOJ), was arrested on Sept. 17 by police operatives.

The boatmen knew Reynaldo as James Tan whom they would see riding his jet ski in the waters fronting the unfinished resort.

They said construction of the resort started in January 2015 and went on until Reynaldo was arrested.

He was turned over to Philippine National Police Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who was in Bicol province at that time for the Peñafrancia Fiesta in Naga City.

Drug operations base

“Why is it that James Tan is not probed by the Senate about his connections?” an informant asked.

In a previous interview, Buenafe said the armed DOJ personnel were “using” Reynaldo in their operations against the illegal drug trade.

Asked about the status of Reynaldo, Buenafe said on Sunday that they were not privy to his status after they turned him over to the DOJ.