‘Yellow’ exec linked to NBP drug trade

MANILA, Philippines – Another official of the previous administration had reportedly benefitted from drug payoffs from convicted drug lords at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), according to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

In a news conference Monday night, Aguirre said the official is “higher than” his predecessor, former secretary and now Sen. Leila de Lima, and is a “member of yellow,” the color associated with the former Aquino administration.

He said their investigation into the illegal drug trade at the NBP during De Lima’s time as DOJ chief led them to the other official, whom he refused to identify.

Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said he has not seen any evidence or heard any testimony linking another Aquino Cabinet official to the NBP drugs trade. The House committee on justice resumed yesterday its hearing on the alleged illegal drug trade at the NBP.

“I think it is only Sen. De Lima, unless there is evidence to the contrary. What I can say about the higher officials in the previous administration is that they did not act on the drug problem. We took it for granted. We did not know it was this serious,” he said.

Suarez’s colleagues in the minority Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay and Harry Roque of Kabayan called for De Lima’s resignation as a senator.

“The testimonies given by witnesses showing her direct involvement with narco-syndicates indict Senator De Lima. Who knows what other relations she may have had outside Bilibid,” Atienza said.

“We find ourselves now swimming in the cesspool of the drug problem. There is no other recourse for her but to resign her post as a senator. This investigation we started should not be in aid of legislation but in aid of prosecution,” he said.

Echoing Atienza’s call, Roque said, “I believe Leila de Lima should resign so Congress can progress as an institution in its fight against drugs and extrajudicial killings.”

During the lunch break called by the committee on justice yesterday, security escorts of convicted drug dealers thought one of the convicts had escaped and reported the matter to House officials.

The report prompted Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to order a lockdown of the House premises at the Batasan complex in Quezon City.

No one, not even incumbent and former House members, were allowed to go out of or enter the House.

But after security officers accounted for all the convicts after a brief search, the lockdown was lifted.

Drug raid sans PDEA

At yesterday’s hearing, a police official said De Lima prevented the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) from taking part in a surprise drug raid at the Bilibid compound two years ago.

Chief Supt. Benjamin Magalong, former head of the CIDG, said his men and the PDEA were supposed to be part of the raid, as agreed upon with the DOJ during a meeting.

“Unfortunately, nagulat na lang po ako na hindi na kami kasama sa raid (I was surprised to find out we were no longer part of the raid),” Magalong told the House committee on justice chaired by Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali.

Magalong was referring to the December 2014 raid carried out by the Bureau of Corrections – an agency under the DOJ – and the PNP’s National Capital Regional Office then headed by Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo.

The raid was followed by the transfer of the so-called “Bilibid 19” to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) main office in Manila.

Garbo was among the police generals included in President Duterte’s drug matrix, which showed De Lima at the center. The former DOJ chief was said to have been receiving monthly payola of P3 million to P5 million, which she used to fund her senatorial campaign.

The BuCor director at that time was retired police general Franklin Jesus Bucayu, while the executive director of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission was Chief Supt. Reginald Villasanta – both classmates of Magalong in PMA Class 1982.

Magalong revealed Bucayu had told him not to raid the NBP, as it was “masyadong delikado (very dangerous).”

A PDEA female representative also disclosed the agency had been kept in the dark on the drug raid, dubbed “Oplan Galugad.”

PDEA was not involved in the planning and execution of Oplan Galugad and was only told to provide K-9 dogs on the “day itself,” or Dec. 15. - With Delon Porcalla, Alexis Romero