Even with the death of its leader, the group organized by Central Visayas’ top drug personality Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz continues to operate.
For three months, Jaguar’s cousin Reynaldo “Jumbo” Diaz took over the illegal drugs operations until he was arrested by the police in Matnog town of Sorsogon province in Bicol region last Saturday, said Yogi Filemon Ruiz, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7).
“Kaila kaayo ko ana niya (Reynaldo). (I know Reynaldo quite well). He had taken over Jaguar’s operations from the time the latter was killed (last June 17),” Ruiz told Cebu Daily News over the phone yesterday.
As it was in previous instances, he said someone would always take the place of a slain or arrested drug lord. And like Jaguar, Reynaldo operated in Central Visayas, according to Ruiz.
“That’s how illegal drugs operations go. This is a very lucrative business, and because they want to survive, someone would immediately replace any drug lord who gets arrested or killed,” Ruiz said.
The PDEA-7 director said he was very happy when he learned that the police finally caught up with Reynaldo.
“Good that he’s alive. We can get many information from him like who his sources of illegal drugs are,” he said.
Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, who heads the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), last night confirmed the arrest of Reynaldo who he said had taken over the drug operation of Jaguar.
“It’s good that Reynaldo ‘Jumbo’ Diaz was arrested in Sorsogon. He is number 2 in our regional level high value targets. His arrest is a big blow to the illegal drugs trade in Central Visayas. He was monitored to have succeeded Jaguar as head of the Diaz group,” Taliño said in a text message sent to Cebu Daily News last night.
Ruiz, on the other hand, said PDEA-7 will visit Reynaldo in prison to interview him about the latter’s illegal drugs operations.
Reynaldo is currently held by the Bicol PRO based in Legazpi City in Albay.
“We need to talk to him, hoping that he can relay to us something that would help PDEA-7 in our investigations,” he said.
Ruiz also said that even if Reynaldo was arrested, they expected another person to lead the group.
“The group won’t just operate without a leader,” he said.
Closest associate
Chief Supt. Melvin Buenafe, Bicol police director, confirmed on Sunday that Reynaldo inherited Jaguar’s illicit drug trade operation.
Reynaldo, who also went around with the alias James Tan, was arrested in Subic Saday Resort in Barangay Calintaan, Matnog by the Sorsogon police at 5:45 p.m. on Saturday.
He described Reynaldo as not just Jaguar’s cousin but also his closest associate before he took over leadership of the Cebu drug lord’s operations.
Jaguar, one of Central Visayas’s suspected top drug dealers who operated mainly in Cebu City, and his bodyguard were killed in Las Piñas City last June.
Reynaldo was arrested in the company of six armed personnel of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Buenafe said they learned that the DOJ men had been using Reynaldo in operations against the illegal drugs trade, but he said he was not yet sure whether Reynaldo was a “whistleblower.”
Police swooped down on Reynaldo’s hideout in the town to serve warrants of arrest for violation of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) issued by a Cebu City court and for frustrated murder cases pending in Nueva Ecija province, according to Buenafe.
Reynaldo was taken into custody by the Bicol police and presented to Philippine National Police Director General Ronaldo “Bato” dela Rosa, who was in the region on Saturday for the Peñafrancia feast in Naga City, Camarines Sur.
During the presentation, Reynaldo reportedly denied to Dela Rosa that he has taken over his cousin’s drug operations.
The suspect, however, said he knows the police officials involved with Jaguar’s operation.
He also told the PNP chief that he had been thinking of surrendering, but he feared for his safety claiming that some policemen on Jaguar’s payroll may harm him.
According to Buenafe, Reynaldo was also reportedly a close associate of a certain Peter “Jaguar” Lim, allegedly one of the top drug lords in the country.
Cebuano businessman Peter Lim had previously denied that he was the Peter Lim alluded to in the various reports involving the illegal drugs trade.
Lim, personally and through his legal counsels, has insisted on his innocence.
He likewise belied President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncement that named Lim as one of the big-time drug lords in the country. /with reports by Mar S. Arguelles, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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