Tanod in drug queen turf killed

PNP chief, ‘ninja cops,’ accuser to face off at Senate

MANILA, Philippines — Just before the Senate public hearing on “ninja cops” tomorrow, a former barangay tanod who was in the illegal drug watchlist was shot dead by six gunmen along the railroad tracks in Sampaloc, Manila on Saturday.

Leo Pilapil was a former tanod in Barangay 484 where Manila’s alleged “drug queen” Guia Gomez Castro served as captain.

Pilapil was shot dead by six men on  three motorcycles by the railroad tracks along Algeciras street at around 11 p.m.

The victim was in the drug watchlist, according to Capt.Edwin Fuggan, chief of the police station drug enforcement unit in Sampaloc.

Castro, who was elected barangay captain in Sampaloc, allegedly ran an organized drug ring in Manila with the help of ninja cops, or police officers involved in the recycling of illegal drugs.

She left the country before police officials tagged her as the drug queen of Manila. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said she took a flight for Bangkok, Thailand on Sept. 21.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said yesterday that the Philippine government has sought the help of the International Criminal Police Organization or Interpol for a “red notice” to arrest Castro.

A red notice alerts police organizations nationwide about internationally wanted fugitives.

Año said Philippine security officials have also coordinated with their counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries to have Castro extradited to the country.

According to Año, they already have information where Castro, who also has a warrant for estafa, has sought refuge but refused to go into details so as not to preempt manhunt operations against her.

Senate public hearing on ‘ninja cops’

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong as well as the so-called ninja cops are all expected to confront each other tomorrow at the resumption of the Senate inquiry into the alleged involvement of law enforcers in the illegal drug trade.

Año said yesterday Albayalde should answer allegations that he is involved in the recycling of illegal drugs when he faces lawmakers at the Senate hearing tomorrow.

According to Año, Albayalde is in a difficult situation where he is the country’s top cop, with allegations that he is a protector of the ninja cops.

Albayalde, who will retire this Nov. 8, earlier said he is ready to face the Senate and debunk insinuations that he is involved in the illegal drug trade.

Año added allegations of wrongdoing against Albayalde should be backed by evidence.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee has summoned Albayalde, Magalong and other ranking PNP officials to testify on what they know on the alleged involvement of police officers in the pilfering and selling of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and other drugs seized during raids as the panel has shifted its inquiry from corruption at the Bureau of Corrections and the New Bilibid Prisons to the involvement of law enforcers in the illegal drug trade.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights investigating the case, said the invitation to the police officers was meant to shed light on the testimony of Magalong that some policemen were involved in the recycling of illegal drug seized during police operations.

Magalong provided the Senate names and documents which he gathered and kept since he was chief of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. He retired in December 2016 and won as mayor of Baguio City in the May 2019 elections.

President Duterte has been given a copy of Magalong’s list by the Senate and is expected to disclosed the names.

Gordon is unsure if the disclosure will be made before the hearing tomorrow.

It was Magalong who provided the names during a closed-door session with senators. He recounted a major drug raid in Pampanga in 2014 where over 230 kilos of shabu were seized by PNP operatives but only 37 kilos were declared to the higher- ups. The main Chinese suspect was also allegedly held until his family coughed up P50 million, and he was replaced by a South Korean as a patsy, Gordon said last week.

The senator said the ninja cops in that operation sold the drugs on the streets with the help of convicted drug lords at the NBP. The volume of shabu sold in the streets was so huge that it depressed prices for a while, he said.

Magalong’s revelation in executive session was immediately followed by rumors that Albayalde, who was Pampanga provincial chief at the time, may have been part of the illegal operation as he was relieved from his post for command responsibility.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who has a copy of the case folder of the raid, however, was quick to point out to reporters last week that while there may have been suspicions about Albayalde, there is nothing in the documents that attributed any criminal act on the part of the then provincial police chief.

Lacson stressed the importance of the Senate inquiry, saying some of those in the questioned raid remain in active duty and have been promoted, which meant that corrupt and drug-tainted policemen continue to interfere in investigations.

He cited the case of alleged drug queen Castro, who has fled to Canada purportedly with the help of her protectors in the PNP.

PDEA chief loses PNP escorts

He said Magalong was receiving death threats for his disclosure while Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Director General Aaron Aquino – who said that the recycling of illegal drugs by rogue police officers remain rampant – was reportedly stripped of his security detail from the PNP.

“General Aquino is our No.1 anti-drug enforcer so why will you remove his security?” Gordon said.

The PNP confirmed yesterday it has recalled the police escorts of Aquino.

However, PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac pointed out that the recall has nothing to do with his allegations but with the upcoming Southeast Asian Games that will be held in Central Luzon in November.

He said the Central Luzon police needs all the available manpower to ensure the safety of athletes who will participate in the SEA Games.

In the absence of his police escorts, Banac said PDEA agents will take over Aquino’s security. Aquino has admitted to having scalawag personnel as well following the arrest of one of its agents.

Banac said that the arrest of Agent Richard Gaufo in Laguna over the weekend is “proof” that crooked law enforcers are in the lead anti-narcotic agency’s ranks.

“PDEA denounces these crooked agents and vows to pursue them to the full extent of the law,” Aquino said in a statement.

Gaufo, an active PDEA agent assigned at the Cordillera Administrative Region office, was arrested during a raid in San Pedro City on Saturday where 10 sachets of shabu, two firearms, ammunition and a fragmentation grenade were seized. – With Manny Tupas, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Non Alquitran, Paolo Romero, Romina Cabrera