Drug suspect tags Drilon, Roxas as protectors

MANILA, Philippines — A drug personality earlier arrested by police has implicated Sen. Franklin Drilon and former interior secretary Manuel Roxas II in the illegal drug trade in the Visayas.

Ricky Serenio, confessed bagman of the Berya drug cartel, named the two Liberal Party stalwarts as protectors of notorious slain drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr.

Odicta reportedly controlled the narcotics trade in Iloilo City, according to Serenio in an affidavit he submitted to La Carlota City prosecutor’s office in Negros Occidental last Oct. 18.

Serenio particularly accused Drilon and Roxas of partnering with Odicta to control “the illegal drug business in the Western Visayas-Panay/Negros...  by kicking out Berya Tolentino and Camaria group from their dominance as local drug suppliers.”

“Being in power with close association to the PNP, it was easy for the Roxas-Drilon tandem to paralyze, and eventually overthrow the Berya-Camaria drug operations and wipe out these groups from operating in Negros Island,” read the affidavit furnished to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

With the Berya-Camaria taken out of play, Serenio said Drilon and Roxas could “turn over” the drug operations in the region to Odicta.

“Indeed, the Negros market is bigger than in Panay or Iloilo, as confirmed in the declaration of President Duterte that the NIR is No. 3 as the most drug affected in the country,” Serenio alleged.

Odicta and his wife Meriam were shot dead by unidentified assailants on Aug. 29, 2016 upon their arrival at the Caticlan Jetty Port in Aklan.

Serenio also claimed Drilon and Roxas were not only protectors of Odicta, but also patrons of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog who protected the illegal drug operations of the slain drug lord. – With Rhodina Villanueva