7 PDEA operatives axed over Ilocos Norte drug bust mishap

BAGUIO CITY — Seven anti-narcotics agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) involved in the supposed sting operation against a charcoal-maker they suspected of drug dealing in Solsona town, Ilocos Norte over the weekend were already relieved.

PDEA spokesman Derrick Carreon said PDEA Director General Moro Lazo ordered PDEA Region 1 Regional Director Joel Plaza will launch a thorough investigation and the relief of the agents.

On Saturday afternoon, PDEA Ilocos Norte agents aided by five policemen reportedly conducted a sting operation in Barangay Nalasin, Solsona town and reportedly caught Jason Andres Dumlao, 32, with a gram of shabu including a P9,000 buy-bust money.

In a video which has gone viral, Dumlao was spotted on the ground, being read his Miranda Rights while a PDEA agent beside them took out from his own pocket what appeared to be a small plastic sachet.

The sachet was later declared as the one found in Dumlao’s bag raising suspicions that the shabu and the buy bust money were “planted”.

According to the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002” (RA 9165), planting of evidence is a heinous offense and is punishable with life imprisonment.

The Facebook page of PDEA Region 1 named Dumlao as the “top 3 regional target personality” in the entire Ilocos Region. This was despite barangay certifications indicating that he has no prior criminal record and has never been arrested for any drug offense.

He too did not sport any tattoo as invoked by a PDEA agent if he had tattoos on him when he was arrested.

In the same viral video, Dumlao begged PDEA agents for mercy while denying that he was involved in drug sale and the money found from his bag was not his. 

The suspect said he was even asking for loan from his co-workers at that time to cover the expenses of his third child confined for a delicate disease that exposed her brain at the ICU of the Mariano Marcos Memorial General Hospital in Batac City.

Lilidel, Dumlao’s wife, said that they are bent on suing those involved in the arrest of her husband. Dumlao was dragged helplessly at the stony riverbank, drawing a wide uproar for the maltreatment and misdeeds unto him.

Dumlao, who repeatedly challenged PDEA agents he was ready and willing to undergo a drug test to prove his innocence, is still detained at the Ilocos Norte provincial jail. The detainment is supposedly part of the protocol requirement for the jail to hold on to detainees seven days after arrest.

Meanwhile, Ilocos Norte police has yet to report if it has also relieved the five policemen involved in the supposed drug sting operation.