Former PDEA chief Villanueva surrenders to quad comm

MANILA, Philippines — Former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general Wilkins Villanueva surrendered on Monday to the quad committee of the House of Representatives to serve his detention for contempt, which was issued by the committee last month, quad comm chairman and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said yesterday.

In a text message to The STAR, Barbers said Villanueva is currently detained at the House facility after reporting to the Office of House Sergeant at Arms Napoleon Taas on Jan. 13.

The order was issued last month following allegations that Villanueva lied under oath during the Dec. 12, 2024 hearing, Rep. Barbers said.

In the spirit of Christmas, however, the quad committee deferred the implementation of Villanueva’s detention for contempt to Jan. 13, when the House resumed its regular session.

The contempt charge stemmed from Villanueva’s testimony during the hearing, where he evaded questions about the warrantless arrest and subsequent imprisonment of Jed Pilapil Sy, the wife of suspected drug lord Allan Sy.

Mrs. Sy testified that she was arrested and forced to sign an affidavit by her lawyer – a waiver concerning her arrest without the benefit of a warrant – in their house in Dumoy, Davao City, in 2004.

She stated that she was sentenced to imprisonment and has been jailed for the past 20 years for crimes she did not commit. She also mentioned that her husband was killed by authorities prior to her arrest.

When asked by Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. whether PDEA agents had a warrant of arrest when they apprehended and detained Mrs. Sy, Villanueva claimed that the woman was not jailed but merely invited for an interview.

“Since it’s already delegated to my investigators, I don’t know how many days she was there. My instruction is to conduct an interview on Jed Pilapil Sy because she is really a person of interest,” he explained.

“As to detaining her, I have no personal knowledge, Mr. Chair. We are busy conducting follow-up operations and investigation on other sites where the warehouses are located,” he added.

‘Duterte’s drug war a catastrophic failure’

Barbers, who also chairs the House committee on dangerous drugs, commented on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, saying it is nothing but a “catastrophic failure.”

“While I supported the anti-drug campaign of the previous administration as a necessary response to a growing crisis, it is now undeniable that it became a catastrophic failure,” he said.

The Surigao del Norte second district congressman has also expressed support for the claim of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla that the Duterte drug war was a “grand conspiracy” within the Philippine National Police (PNP) to hide criminal activities, calling it a long-overdue reckoning.

“Instead of upholding justice, it opened the floodgates to corruption in the PNP, fostered a culture of impunity that left thousands of innocent lives destroyed and even allowed recycled drugs to poison our streets again,” Barbers added.

The Mindanao congressman said the indictment of 30 police officers, including two generals, over a fabricated drug haul in 2022 is “indisputable proof” of the alleged systemic abuse fostered by Duterte’s policies.

Remulla, a brother of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, previously described the fabricated drug haul – falsely presented as a major anti-drug success – as part of a broader conspiracy to conceal the PNP’s real criminal activities.

Due to this, the former Cavite governor announced that the Department of the Interior and Local Government would investigate drug-related operations from 2016 to 2022, with a focus on the reward system exposed during the quad comm hearings.

Testimonies from witnesses, including retired police colonel and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma, revealed that the Duterte administration offered cash rewards for killing drug suspects, conducting arrests and seizing drugs. – Delon Porcalla, Daphne Galvez