NarcGroup informants still waiting for their rewards

Three civilian informants of the anti-narcotics unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in their successful drive against bigtime drug syndicates are seeking President Arroyo’s intervention for the speedy release of their reward money. The informants claimed it has been more than three months now since the crippling of the San Juan shabu laboratory and the arrest of Chinese big-time drug dealers in the country but the rewards due them seem elusive.

"We and our families are suffering silently," said an informant known by his codename, Jedi. "The call for closer public cooperation in the fight against bigtime drug syndicates will be rendered useless if the Arroyo government reneges on its promise to grant rewards to informants."

Jedi was the informant used by men of NarcGroup chief Director Efren Fernandez in raiding and crippling the operation of the San Juan shabu lab, the most sophisticated illegal drugs laboratory operating in the country. The two other informants worked for the arrest of Chinese drug syndicates who yielded seven and five kilos of shabu, respectively, during separate operations in Metro Manila months back.

The three civilian informants and their families are hoping from one relative to another to prevent remnants or relatives of arrested drug dealers from pushing through with their threats of revenge.

Earlier, a Filipino-Chinese businessman, David Sy-Lato, was shot dead in an ambush in Binondo, Manila. Police said Lato was tracing the money trail of the main players in the San Juan shabu lab at the time of his death.

Jedi expects to receive from the Arroyo government some P5.5 million in reward money. But Director Miguel Coronel, of the National Drug Enforcement and Prevention (NDEP) scaled down the reward to a mere P126,000.

Under the government’s "Private Eye" program, an informant is entitled to a P50,000 reward for every kilo of shabu confiscated. The raid at the San Juan shabu lab occurred in the early part of January while the confiscation of the seven and five kilos of shabu followed days later.

A check with Coronel’s office showed that they are still processing documents for the immediate release of the reward money.

The informants accused the NDEP of giving them the run-around. "They have a ready answer to all our queries," the informants claimed. "They are not the ones receiving threats and other harassments that’s why they don’t seem to understand our sad predicament."