Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella (right) questions the three drug suspects, who were caught with P47.6 million worth of suspected shabu during the buy-bust operation on Sunday, September 20, 2o2o in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City. | Photo from Cebu City PIO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The three men, who were caught with nearly P50 million worth of suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City on September 20, 2020, were allegedly new recruits of the drug group of Rustico Ygot.
Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) chief, said this during a press briefing on Monday, September 21, 2020.
Ligan said in their followup investigation on the suspects, whom they described as high value individuals (HVIs) in their drug watchlist, they found out that the three suspects Rolando Ondoy Romeo, 32; Edward Ondoy Romeo, 24; and Calvin Hermoso Valdez, 42, were couriers of illegal drugs allegedly owned by Ygot’s drug group.
Consolacion, Mandaue drug busts
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In earlier reports, Ygot was described as a drug lord, who is serving time in New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.
He was linked to the confiscation of P190.4 million worth of suspected shabu from Jocelyn Encila during a buy-bust operation in Consolacion town in northern Cebu.
Police tagged Ygot as the source of the Encila’s illegal drugs.
Read: 3 men killed in Mandaue City encounter are members of Ygot drug syndicate
In July 2019, the men who died in a shootout with policemen in Mandaue City, where P78.2 million worth of shabu was also confiscated.
The Mandaue police then described the group of Ygot as a drug syndicate previously based in Consolacion town and described the group’s drug shipments covered Visayas, Mindanao and even Luzon.
New recruits
Read: Read: Cebu City cops arrest 3 HVIs, confiscate P47.6M worth of shabu
“Base sa information, last year wala pa ni sila, karon ra pud ni sila gipang recruit through with the middle man. Kung kinsa man ni siya (middle man), mao na sad ni atong tumbukon … So mga new recruits ni sila ni Ygot,” said Ligan about the three men arrested at the Tipolo Bridge in Barangay Guadalupe last Sunday, September 20, 2020.
(Based on our information, this men they were not involved last year. They are newly recruited men through a middle man. Who this middle man is, that is what we are looking into. … So these are new recruits of Ygot.)
Ligan said that they found out that the illegal drugs were from Ygot’s group after they conducted a one month surveillance of the activities of the three arrested men.
He said that although Ygot continued to be detained at the National Bilibid Prison, he still had people outside, which seemed to have grown his group.
“Mao ni kunbaga iyang mga soldiers on the ground, maoy mu move sa iyang mga (items) kung asa ipadala or I distribute through provinces, sa Negros, Cebu, Cebu City and Bohol,” said Ligan.
These are his soldiers on the ground — these are the people who would move the (items) on where to send or distribute it through the provinces in Negros, Cebu, Cebu City and Bohol.
Dumaguete supplier
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Ligan also tagged the man killed in a shootout with policemen in Negros Oriental, who had 2 kilos of suspected shabu in his backpack, as another member of Ygot’s group.
Ligan said that the arrested HVI’s in Cebu City are the same group with the man from San Carlos City, Negros Occidental who was killed during a buy-bust operation in Sibulan town in Negros Oriental.
The man was carrying a backpack which later was found out to have contained 2 kilos of suspected shabu or nearly P50 million worth of illegal drugs.
Negros police believed that the man they killed was one of the biggest suppliers in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.
Shabu inside LED Boxes
Read: P81.6M shabu found in three LED light boxes inside Mandaue City warehouse
Aside from that, Ligan also tagged Ygot’s group as the one responsible for the confiscated 12 kilos of suspected shabu placed inside LED boxes, which was shipped through a courier company with a warehouse in Mandaue City last July 2020.
Ligan said that with the information they had gathered, they would conduct more coordinated operations and would meet with concerned government agencies to be able to help the address this problem.
“They will find always,ang atoa lang ani is how to monitor and gather information kung asa ilang mga drug lord,” said Ligan.
(They will always. What we can do with this is how to monitor and gather information and to find out where their drug lord was.)/dbs