MANILA, Philippines - The illegal drug trade in the country has been so rampant that the cheapest shabu in the market is sold by police officers and other law enforcers, the group Anti-Drug Advocate (ADA) said yesterday.
Shabu (metamphetamine hydrochloride) or the “poor man’s cocaine†used to be sold at P35,000 per five grams in 2012, but you can now get it at P5,000 per five grams, ADA’s Jonathan Morales said.
“You should have a police officer or law enforcer as a contact. If you get it from them, you’ll get a big discount,†he said.
Morales revealed this as the government investigation deepens into the “link diagram†that Chief Inspector Elmer Santiago drew before he was killed in an ambush allegedly perpetrated by his classmates at the Philippine National Police Academy Class 1996.
The one-page diagram showed nine police officials and 22 non-commissioned police officers as among those involved in an illegal drug ring syndicate in Bataan and Subic, Zambales.
The officials, mostly Santiago’s classmates, were allegedly working with drug lords detained at the New Bilibid Prison. Investigators said they are looking into reports that Amin Imam Boratong – convicted for running a shabu “flea market†in Pasig City – is among those drug lords.
Dramatic drop
Morales, a former policeman and an informant of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, said the price of shabu has dramatically gone down since 2012.
He also noted that international drug syndicates like the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, have also penetrated the Philippines and are easily plying their trade.
Morales said the trend is alarming, as based on their research, law enforcers are now the biggest drug traffickers in the country.
“Where else can you see officers of the law, whom you should approach for help, selling drugs?†he said.
The law enforcer’s P5,000-per-five-gram price is P3,000 cheaper than the shabu sold by Chinese or Muslim drug lords “because they don’t have to have capital,†according to Morales.
Recycling
There are several ways a police officer moonlighting as an illegal drug trafficker can sell shabu at a very low price, according to Morales. One of them is through “agaw bato (literally, grabbing rocks),†bato being a local slang for shabu.
“This is when they arrest you, get your shabu then sell it themselves,†Morales said.
Law enforcers can also befriend drug lords and their middlemen instead of filing cases against them. These people eventually would become the law enforcers’ supplier, he said.
Dante Jimenez, head of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), echoed Morales’ call.
“Heads should roll. The number of drug lords in this country doubled. This government practically failed in its anti drug campaign,†Jimenez said. The VACC and ADA are working together in seeking justice for Santiago.