Leila tagged in NBP payoffs
MANILA, Philippines – There were concerts featuring celebrity entertainers, beer flowed, “models” were available and business – the drug business – was conducted as money changed hands freely.
That was the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, the “center of drug operations” in the Philippines, with its maximum-security compound for notorious convicts known as “Little Las Vegas” during Sen. Leila de Lima’s time as justice secretary, two inmate-witnesses at a House hearing disclosed yesterday.
“It was the drug trade center of the Philippines during the time of then secretary De Lima, because drug trading in the entire Philippines was done in the maximum security compound,” retired police major and kidnap convict Rodolfo Magleo said in Filipino when he testified before the House committee on justice yesterday.
The committee, chaired by Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, was hearing allegations of the proliferation of illegal drugs at the NBP during De Lima’s watch. The NBP is under the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Speaking from Davao City, President Duterte said he was right all along about the proliferation of illegal drugs at the NBP during De Lima’s time as DOJ chief.
“During the term of de Lima, the maximum security compound was called the Little Las Vegas. It was called Little Las Vegas because many concerts were held inside,” Magleo said.
Another witness-inmate, Herbert Colangco, confirmed Magleo’s account and bragged that he was the only VIP inmate who managed to sneak truckloads of beer in cans into the NBP and sold them for P10,000 per box.
Colangco also bragged about being able to bring in more than the allowable 300 guests for concerts within the NBP compound.
Magleo said celebrities like Freddie Aguilar, Sharon Cuneta, the Mocha Girls and Ethel Booba, among many others, had performed at the maximum-security compound.
Colangco, in his testimony, also boasted about hiring from outside the services of “models” for P25,000 each, and offering each model for P75,000 to moneyed inmates during special events at the NBP.
Both Magleo and Colangco testified De Lima’s contact inside the NBP was convicted drug lord Jaybee Sebastian, who had boasted to Magleo on several occasions that he could transfer inmates on a whim, citing the case of the so-called “Bilibid 19.”
Magleo said he personally saw De Lima spend two to three hours inside the kubol (hut) of Sebastian, adding that he found this “abnormal.”
While he had no proof De Lima’s affair with her driver Ronnie Dayan, Magleo said he “sensed” something was “intimate.”
“What’s striking to me was the transfer of the Bilibid 19 to the NBI headquarters. I saw how good he (Sebastian) was. He is the king of drug lords,” Magleo said in Filipino.
Magleo said he decided to come out in the open in support of President Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.
Convict Herbert Colangco testifies at the House of Representatives yesterday. MICHAEL VARCAS
Sebastian – to whom he had been a “confidante” – paid De Lima P10 million for her help in removing his drug lord competitors, Magleo added.
Colangco said he was surprised when they were rounded up one day in the wee hours in preparation for their transfer to the NBI. He said he sought an audience with De Lima, who assured him the transfer would only be “temporary.”
“I told her thank you very much. The temporary turned out to be eight months,” he said.
He added he had to give in to the demand of Dayan for higher “payola” so he wouldn’t be moved from Muntinlupa.
“I said Ma’am, Dayan’s instruction to Joenel, I’ll go with it. Just don’t have me transferred,” Colangco said in Filipino, referring to the regular delivery of what he called “PR payola” to help De Lima’s senatorial campaign in the May 2016 elections. Joenel was reportedly Joenel Sanchez, De Lima’s aide.
“It hurts a lot, it’s too much. It seems they’re never contented,” he added, lamenting their being kicked out of their drug business despite paying bribe money.
Colangco called Sanchez De Lima’s “bagman” who had facilitated a conversation with the then DOJ chief through Globe postpaid number 0917-8421931.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III said the number was indeed registered with the DOJ.
Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia confirmed the number was De Lima’s in her contact list.
Colangco said he has in his possession a copy of the “receipt” for the P5,000 money transfer he sent to Sanchez, from the original P20,000 the latter demanded.
He likewise implicated in the drug trade in the NBP former Justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan, who exercised administrative supervision over the NBP, as well as former Bureau of Corrections director Franklin Bucayu.
A certain Susan from Baraan’s technical office reportedly received drug money for him in exchange for the inmates’ not getting transferred to the maximum-security compound.
On one occasion, Colangco said Baraan’s office asked for P500,000 to facilitate the transfer of one Chinese convict from the maximum compound to medium security. “So I told the drug lord, they’re demanding P800,000, so I can have P300,000 for payola.”
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre listens during yesterday’s House hearing on the alleged drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison. BOY SANTOS
‘I told you so’
In Davao City, President Duterte said he watched a portion of the House hearing and the illegal drug trade could not have flourished at the NBP without De Lima’s knowledge.
He stressed he was not saying that De Lima was into the illegal drug trade herself.
The President shared his opinion of what transpired in the House hearing with soldiers of the 10th Infantry Division at Camp Manuel Yan, Mawab, Compostela Valley.
Later in the night – this time with local officials in attendance – the President voiced his concern over the seriousness of the drug problem.
“If you listen to the TV right now and you listen and watch the House hearing on the illegal drug trade, you will know how widespread the problem is,” the President told a gathering of local officials at the SMX convention center in SM Lanang Premiere in Davao City.
“I was the favorite whipping boy of De Lima, lumaki agad ang ulo niya (it got to her head) when former president Gloria Arroyo appointed her to the CHR (Commission on Human Rights),” he said. - With Edith Regalado