Drugs court judge, former Abra mayor mum on inclusion in Duterte list

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Two personalities whom President Rodrigo Duterte said early Sunday were linked to the illegal drug trade have decided to keep mum about the allegations for now.

 

Regional Trial Court Branch 61 Judge Antonio Reyes, who presides over the only drugs court in Baguio City, in a text message begged, “I don't want to go to media yet. I hope you and your editor will understand me.”

He vowed, however,  to break his silence “[in] due time," saying he is "still trying to process this situation."

 

During the last quarter of 2015, Judge Reyes burnt bridges with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-North and Central Luzon and the Baguio City police’s Anti-illegal Drugs Unit by exposing alleged anomalies in their illegal drugs operations, including “laglag droga” and “palit ulo”. The RTC judge said the schemes were reprehensible and ought to be stopped. 

 

He even reported the alleged practices to the Philippine National Police leadership. The CIDG-NCL, however, took exception to Judge Reyes’ allegations.

 

There is a high conviction rate of cases filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Cordillera before Judge Reyes' sala. In 2013, Judge Reyes found Baguio's so-called drug king Bernardo Oliveros guilty of drug possession and sentenced him to from 12 to 20 years in prison and fined him P400,000.

 

Judge Reyes is also reportedly not on the PDEA-CAR's “watchlist”.

 

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Baguio-Benguet, which has around 1,500 member-lawyers, has yet to meet and discuss an official stand on the issue, its president George Fukai said.

A high-ranking official in Abra said reports linking former Langiden Mayor Felix Castillo, who is already in his mid-80s, to drugs “might be inaccurate”.

 

Last month, former Mayor Castillo’s son – “Boyet”, also a former mayor of that town – was caught in a raid on their compound in Bangued, Abra’s capital town. Police seized high-powered guns and drug paraphernalia during the operation.

 

Another Castillo son, a source said, might be the one alluded to, and not the elderly and now sickly former mayor. 

 

Former Mayor Castillo has already presented himself to the police to clear his name and undergo testing, according to a report on GMA News Online. He has refused to talk to media, however. 

 

The same high-ranking official who declined to be named said Abrenians were hoping more “narco-politicians” from the province were named in the Duterte list. Another town mayor, who also requested anonymity, said, “its good there was at least one named.” 

Meanwhile, Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. has labeled the anti-drug campaign as “class warfare” as he continues to denounce the rise in extrajudicial killings.

 

As President Duterte issued a shoot-on-sight order against local executives he linked to the drug trade, Rep. Baguilat said, “this seems to be all false bravado and a brand of justice that completely ignores due process and equality.”

 

Baguilat said, there is an “apparent double standard of the anti-drug campaign,” saying “the rich and powerful are given deadlines to negotiate their surrender, are accommodated in the PNP White House, get invited to coffee and are subject to an investigation."

 

In contrast, he said, "the poor, the lowly drug pusher or the addict simply gets the bullet. It seems like the rules are different with the rich and the poor.”

 

The Ifugao lawmaker chided PNP Diector General Ronald dela Rosa whom he said, “keeps on making threats against drug lords and their protectors but has so far coddled the generals, businessmen and narco-politicians that they identified.”

 

He said that, for the poor, “there is no negotiations, no courtesy calls, no warnings. They are just killed to add fodder to the propaganda of the administration."

 

Baguilat said that "our government has now created a new class of people, those who are linked to drugs. These people, unlike the rest of the population, do not have basic human rights."

 

Baguilat, who was a contender for the House speakership and for House minority leader, said the alleged drug users and pushers "are deprived of due process and the right to life. Justice has now been transferred from the judiciary to barangay captains and police intelligence, who identify and prosecute drug addicts and pushers.”

 

He has filed House Resolution 61, which calls for an investigation into the spate of extrajudicial killings and summary executions of suspected drug pushers and users. The Bill has been referred to the Committee on Rules.