4 COPS AND A BARANGAY CAPTAIN

JAGUAR’S BODYGUARD.
Police finally caught up with Joselito Arellano, the driver and close-in
security aide of slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz. Arellano was arrested in Barangay Basak
Mambaling on Thursday,
Dec. 15, 2016. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

A trusted aide of slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz has spilled the beans on their alleged drug protectors in Cebu City.

Joselito “Otik” Arellano, who was arrested by Cebu City policemen early Thursday morning, identified a barangay captain in the city and at least four police non-commissioned officers with a rank of Police Officer 1 to Senior Police Officer 4 as among those who allowed Jaguar’s illegal drug business to thrive.

Investigators, however, declined to identify the persons named by Arellano and how deeply they were involved in Jaguar’s drug trade while the suspect’s claims were being validated.

“We are conducting a case build-up and will summon the barangay official in due time for that person to answer the accusations,” said Chief Insp. Christopher Lucas Navida, head of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), who took part in the operation that led to Arellano’s arrest.

On the other hand, the four policemen named as “drug protectors” by the suspect had been relieved from their respective posts and were transferred to other regions at the start of the Duterte administration, he said.

In the past three months, Navida said the police had been on the look out for Arellano, who reportedly served as Jaguar’s bodyguard, driver, and right hand man. He was arrested by the police soon after he left his mother’s residence in Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City at around 6 a.m. on Thursday.

Operatives of the CIB and the Cebu City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Team (CAIDSOT) served a pending arrest warrant against Arellano, which was issued in November 2003 by now retired Judge Antonio Echavez of the Cebu Regional Trial Court Branch 8, on charges of robbery with violence or intimidation against person.

Arellano, 46, did not resist arrest.

But in a talk with reporters following his arrest, the suspect claimed he was not aware that there was still an arrest warrant against him as he had already served jail time in 2004 to 2008 for a case of robbery, first at the Cebu City Jail where he met Jaguar, and then at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) where he was later shipped.

According to police, several packs of shabu weighing 40 grams valued at P472,000 and fake identification cards were recovered from Arellano during Thursday’s arrest.

Charges for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, particularly for illegal possession of illegal drugs, will be filed against Arellano before the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office.

Since the prohibited drugs seized from him was over five grams, the offense is non-bailable.

His nephew Kim Jan Arellano, 24, and friend Emerson Villafuerte, 45, allegedly tried to pull out their guns but were quickly collared by the operatives.

Kim Jan and Villafuerte will be facing charges of illegal possession of firearms, obstruction of justice, and qualified direct assault, said Navida.

“We want them to live because we could get more information about their illegal drugs operation,” Navida said.

JAGUAR’S MEN. Joselito Arellano (right), the driver-bodyguard of the late drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, and his alleged cohorts Emerson Villafuerte (left) and Kim Jan Briones Arellano (3rd from left) are presented to the media following their arrest in Barangay Basak Mambaling on Dec. 15, 2016. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

The Jaguar connection

Arellano, in an interview at the CCPO, admitted that he was involved in Jaguar’s illegal drugs trade but only as courier of shabu (methamphetamine) from Manila to Batangas.

He said that after dropping off the drugs in Batangas, Jaguar’s men would load them on a vehicle and bring them to Cebu City via a roll-on-roll-off vessel (Roro).

“Igo lang ko mokuha ug hatud og shabu (I just picked up and delivered shabu),” he told CDN.

Arellano said he used to clean the kubol or makeshift room of Jaguar when they met as inmates of the Cebu City Jail in 2004.

Arellano was imprisoned after he was convicted of robbery, while Jaguar was detained for selling illegal drugs.

“Didto gyud mi nakasuod ni Jaguar sulod sa prisohan (We became very close when we were behind bars),” he said.

Both Arellano and Jaguar were eventually shipped to the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

Arellano was released in 2008 while Jaguar stepped out of the penitentiary two years later.

In 2012, Arellano became the trusted aide of Jaguar.

He transferred from Barangay Basak San Nicolas to Las Piñas City where he contacted Peter Co, their supplier of illegal drugs inside the National Bilibid Prison, and transported packs of shabu bound for Cebu City via the Batangas port.

Arellano said he received P50,000 from Jaguar for every transaction.

In 2014, Arellano said he returned to Cebu and lived in Minglanilla, 17.9 kilometers south of Cebu City, after Jaguar decided to stop running the drug syndicate as requested by the latter’s wife.

“Morag nakonsensya na man to siya. Gusto na gyud to siya mo-surrender. Na-shock na lang ko nga napatay siya (Maybe, he was bothered by his conscience. He really wanted to surrender. I was shocked when I learned that he was killed),” Arellano said.

Jaguar was killed by Cebu-based policemen in an operation in Las Piñas City last June 17, barely a week after he granted a media interview and expressed his intent to surrender to authorities.

Fragmented

Arellano said Jaguar’s cousin Reynaldo “Jumbo” Diaz took over the illegal drugs operations until the latter was arrested by the police in Matnog town of Sorsogon province in Bicol region last September 2016.

He admitted that Jaguar’s group was now fragmented.

“Nabongkag na gyud mi. Wala na man mi makuhaan og supply sa shabu. Gani, wala na koy contact sa akong mga kauban (The group has disintegrated. We no longer have someone where we get our supply of drugs from. In fact, I no longer have any contact with the other members of our group),” Arellano said.

While he admitted using shabu and acting as courier, Arellano said he never actually peddled illegal drugs.

He said the packs of shabu that were allegedly recovered from his possession when he was arrested on Thursday were “planted.”

Arellano, an aeronautics graduate, and the two other suspects are currently detained at the stockade of the CCPO pending the filing of charges against them.

Senior Insp. Narolf Tan, head of the Cebu City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Team, said they conducted surveillance operations against Arellano for the past three months.

“He went into hiding after Jaguar was killed. He transferred from one place to another until we finally caught him (in Basak San Nicolas),” he said.

He said Jaguar’s alleged hitman Joselito Tecson, who was arrested by police last Dec. 3, helped them locate Arellano.

Tan believed remnants of Jaguar’s drug syndicate still continued to operate even if their group had disintegrated.

“Ato na silang trabahoon sa sunod nga mga adlaw o bulan (We will work on them in the coming days or months),” he said.