Reward up for ‘drug diagram’ cop’s killer

MANILA, Philippines - A P50,000 reward has been put up for any information leading to the arrest of the killers of Chief Inspector Elmer Santiago, who made a diagram purportedly showing the involvement of at least 30 police officers in the illegal drug trade and cybersex den operations in Bataan and Subic, Zambales.

“We are hoping that our reward would help in a small way in identifying the suspects. There is no positive progress as yet in our investigation of the case,” Senior Superintendent Wilson Caubat, deputy director for operations of the Eastern Police District, said in an interview yesterday.

He said the Special Investigation Task Group Santiago, which he heads, is concentrating on identifying the persons who ambushed Santiago in Mandaluyong City on March 16.

He said the reward money, whose donor chooses to remain anonymous, would be given to the informant with no questions asked.

Next step

After the killers have been identified and arrested, Caubat said they will then investigate the diagram wherein Santiago linked 11 police officials, 22 police officers and 11 civilians in the illegal drugs trade and cybersex den operations in Subic, Zambales and Bataan.

Two of the police officials assigned in Metro Manila have been reassigned to the Regional Police Holding and Administrative Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office while Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta of the Police Regional Office 3 administratively relieved 25 police officers to prevent them from influencing the investigation of Santiago’s diagram.

Santiago and his wife, Agnes, had just left the house of Superintendent Maristelo Manalo in Barangay Malamig, Mandaluyong when three persons strafed their car.

The name of Manalo, a classmate of Santiago in the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) Class 1996, also appears in the diagram. Manalo denied having anything to do with Santiago’s murder. He also said he was not involved in the illegal drug and cybersex den operations in Bataan, where he has yet to be assigned.