POLS UNDER NARCO WATCH

Police seized several firearms and sachets of illegal drugs worth P2 million in a drug bust in San Fernando town, southern Cebu. (CDN PHOTO APPLE MAE TA-AS)

Police eye 5 towns, 2 cities as possible narco politics areas

With the election season starting to heat up, authorities are now keeping tab of personalities in at least seven areas in Cebu who might use the illegal drug trade to raise campaign funds.

The police have pinpointed five towns and two cities in Cebu province where certain prominent personalities could be engaged in “narco politics,” or using narcotics to fund their campaign, according to Senior Supt. Clifford Gairanod, provincial director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO).

At least four police officers are also under watch for suspected involvement in the illicit drug trade, he added.

He said they are determining how deeply involved these persons are in illegal drugs or how much money they could be getting from the drug traders.

He said drug personalities might fund the campaign of a certain candidate to ensure they could continue to peddle drugs in the locality, or the drug pushers themselves could be used during the campaign period as the armed goons of candidates.

“Most of (the drug pushers) are armed and will resist arrest. They can be used in possible vote-buying and harassment of voters in their locality,” he said.

DRUG HAUL

Gairanod’s pronouncements came amid a noticeable rise in drug hauls in Cebu City and in the province, with amounts ranging from as low as a few hundred pesos to about P12 million.

Regie Canon Palotes is arrested after he is caught with about a kilo of suspected shabu in Gil Tudtud Street, Barangay Mabolo by agents of the City Police Intelligence Branch headed by Chief Supt. Palaleo Addag. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

Over the last month alone, Cebu Daily News has reported about a dozen incidents of arrest of drug pushers and/or users and seizure of drugs with combined value of at least P20 million.

The biggest haul was nearly a kilo of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride), valued at about P12 million, seized by anti-drug and police agents in Gil Tudtud Street, Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City on February 3.

The incident was immediately followed by another drug operation in San Fernando town at dawn on Thursday that netted P2 million worth of shabu.

Gairanod told CDN by phone that reports on the alleged involvement of police officers were based on information they received from police informants, the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Commission (CPADAC) and even from local officials.

Gairanod, in a separate press briefing yesterday, said he received information that one of the four police officers being watched was not just protecting drug lords but engaged in the trade himself.

“There are mayors and vice mayors visiting me, reporting about police officers involved in illegal drug trade. They are facing rampant drug problem (made worse by) police officers allegedly backing them (drug traders) up,” he said.

WARNING

While these reports were still to be verified, he said it should serve as a warning to police officers since he would not think twice in dismissing them from police service if found to be cuddling illegal drug personalities in their locality.

“As of now, we  will let them (police drug protectors) be. We want them to get arrested in raids or visiting the drug den and caught inflagrante delicto for a stronger case. We want to set as an example in dismissing police officer from service for cuddling illegal drugs,” he said.

The drugs that have entered Cebu mostly came from Metro Manila and Mindanao, Gairanod said.

He said drug lords have been attracted to Cebu because of its strategic location between Luzon and Mindanao and due to its numerous  entry points.

Ron Ricardo, head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7), however, said they have no reports yet of drug lords supporting local candidates. This did not mean, however, that it has not been happening, he added.

He said their record in the past year also showed there were only a few incidents of illegal drug arrests involving government officials  in Central Visayas, particularly Cebu.

The latest incident that involved a village official happened last Tuesday in Dalaguete town when police seized about 10 grams of shabu (two medium packs and nine sachets) valued at P100,000 from the house of Barangay Balud Councilman Jenemar Heredia.

Heredia and his sister Janine were the targets of the raid but managed to escape. Their cohorts, Jimmy Legaspi and Vicente Belian, were arrested.

Presidential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe earlier warned of a possibility that some candidates in the May elections have been raising campaign funds through illegal drug trade especially now that they no longer have the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as a source of pork barrel fund.

PDEA chief Arturo Cacdac Jr. has admitted it would be very difficult to monitor drug money being funneled to candidates’ campaigns for the May elections.

Ricardo said the challenges of proving that politicians were using drug money as campaign funds include the difficulty of tracing transactions from a drug dealer to a specific candidate.

“In the absence of paper trail, it is difficult to come up with an evidence),” he said. “Its difficult but not impossible,” he added.

TRANSFER

Gairanod said at least 10 police chiefs faced transfer for failing to follow directives in the campaign against illegal drugs. These were from the towns of Alcantara, Barili, Carmen, Compostela, Oslob,  Pilar, Ronda, Samboan, Tabuelan and Tudela and Toledo City, he said.

He said non-performing police chiefs could still be reshuffled by seeking exemption from the Commission on Elections ban on the transfer of government personnel during the election period, which began on Jan. 10, 2016.

Meanwhile, Chief Insp. Richard Gadingan of the San Fernando police  said they would verify if the suspect they nabbed in a drug operation at dawn Thursday was also a gun-for-hire, since he was also caught in possession of several firearms and a hand grenade.

The 3 a.m. raid in the house of Castro Barrameda Castro in Barangay Bugho, San Fernando netted P2 million worth of shabu and a .38 revolver, a .22 revolver, hand grenade and sub machine pistol.

Also arrested were suspected drug users, all residents of San Fernando, identified as Mario Canoy 29; Joey Manano, 36; Warren Jose, 30; Joselito Cabasag, 31; Dionisio Baroman, 39; and Alejandro Umamalin.

Gadingan said Castro claimed he could dispose up to 50 grams of illegal drugs a week but Gadingan said he believed it could be more, given the large amount of drug seized from him.