Gov’t sets sights on drug lords’ protectors – De Lima

MANILA, Philippines - Teams of law enforcers are going after influential government officials who protected convicted drug lords and allowed them to continue their operations as they served their sentence in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said earlier this week.

She said authorities are pursuing this angle in a deeper investigation into the illegal drug trade within the national penitentiary.

The probe is being pursued by the National Bureau of Investigation, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Philippine National Police’s anti-drug unit and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, according to De Lima.

“They are tracing the connections and protectors of these drug lords. We cannot rule out the possibility that these drug lords were able to continue with their criminal activities from inside the NBP because of so-called protectors from within and outside the government,” she said in an interview earlier this week.

De Lima, who led a series of raids on the NBP that yielded illegal drugs, cash, firearms and other contraband last month, confirmed that most of the drug convicts temporarily transferred to the NBI detention center are behind the illegal drug trade in the country.

“These agencies as well as intelligence community have found that these people (convicts) were still controlling the narcotics trade in the entire country. They confirmed that the drug transactions are tied up to these personalities in the NBP,” she said.

Those transferred to the NBI following the first raid at NBP last Dec. 15 were Noel Martinez, Michael Ong, Willy Sy, Peter Co, Eugene Chua, Chua Sam Li, Vincent Sy, George Sy, Joel Capones, Herbert Colangco, Amin Imam Boratong, Clarence Dongail, Tom Chua, Rommel Capoines, Jojo Baligad, Jacky King Sy, Willy Chua and Herman Agojo.

De Lima said this move to run after the “bigger” officials and personalities behind the illegal drug trade in the country only proves the political will of the Aquino administration to address a problem that previous administrations have failed to end.