Quezon mayor bribed officers — police chief

"Name your price."

Those were the first words uttered by Mayor Ronnie Tena Mitra of Panukulan, Quezon to policemen who arrested him and his three companions on Saturday for drug trafficking, claimed Quezon provincial police director Superintendent Roberto Rosales.

Meanwhile, two more town mayors from Mindanao are under surveillance for drug trafficking, a highly-placed source at the National Drug Law Enforcement and Prevention Coordinating Center told The STAR yesterday.

The source said the two mayors are from Lanao del Sur and were reportedly elected into office using the proceeds of their drug trafficking operations in the Visayas and Mindanao.

The two mayors have been under police surveillance for several months now but have not been arrested because certain police officials are allegedly in their payroll.

According to Rosales, Mitra also tried to bribe the special team, led by Chief Inspector Elmer Escocia, which intercepted the mayor who was allegedly transporting some 503.68 kilos of high-grade shabu, worth some P1 billion, to Manila.

Rosales said Mitra was on board a Hyundai Starex van sporting a special license plate marked "Mayor" followed by the Panukulan town ambulance when Escocia and his men accosted the two vehicles at a checkpoint at Barangay Kiloloran in Real, Quezon.

The two vehicles, however, sped through the police checkpoint but were later forced to pull over by the authorities after a brief chase, Rosales said.

Police found five sacks of shabu on Mitra’s Starex van while another 10 sacks were found on the Panukulan town ambulance.

Aside from Mitra, the police arrested Mitra’s security aides Javier Morilla and Roel Dequilla and Chinese national Willia Yao, 24, a native of Fookien, China.

Rosales said Mitra and his companions appeared unperturbed as they were brought to police headquarters in Real town.

When they arrived at Escocia’s office, Mitra supposedly repeatedly offered Escocia and his men "millions of pesos" if they would let him go but Mitra’s face turned pale when Escocia rejected the bribe offer and started to telephone his superiors to report the arrest.

Rosales said Mitra only stopped making the bribe offer when Escocia called the office of Quezon Gov. Wilfrido Enverga, PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza and Southern Tagalog regional police director Chief Superintendent Domingo Reyes.

Meanwhile, government lawyers are set to file non-bailable drug trafficking charges against Mitra and his men today before the regional trial court of Infanta, Quezon which has jurisdiction over Real town, where the arrest was made.

Police sources, however, said the authorities are having a more difficult time in cornering the two mayors from Mindanao but expressed hope local residents would cooperate with police in pinning down the two mayors.

The source said foreign drug traffickers even invested P100 million in the campaign kitties of each of the two Lanao mayors during the last local elections.

The source said the two mayors smuggled the narcotics into the country from China where most of the shabu in the Philippines comes from. – With Delon Porcalla

The wife of one of the mayors was arrested for drug trafficking by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in April last year but was released under mysterious circumstances, the source said.

The drug enforcement officials also disclosed that the PNP Narcotics Group is also monitoring the activities of a suspected big-time drug lord who is supposedly planning to run for mayor of a remote town in Mindanao in 2004.

The suspected drug lord supposedly launders the proceeds of his drug operations through the legitimate trading of fancy jewelry from Bangkok which his family sells at Quiapo and Greenhills, San Juan. – With Delon Porcalla

The source said the drug lord has layered his operations that police even doubt if his own family knows of his drug operations.

The suspect was also able to construct rows of apartments in San Andres, Manila through drug money, the source added.

The suspect also allegedly uses a Muslim foundation to launder the proceeds of his drug operations and the police are now closely monitoring the activities of the foundation, the source added. – With Delon Porcalla