ILOILO City – Police in Western Visayas continue to run after those they consider as “high-value targets” (HVTs) in the crackdown on illegal drugs.
But they are currently giving particular attention to HVTs who are elected barangay officials and government employees, according to the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU) of the Police Regional Office 6.
Most of such HVTs are from this city, RDEU head Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo said, citing a “list” that also included targets from Iloilo province.
He did not disclose any figures or further information on their so-called targets but stressed that their information has been “validated and assessed.”
“We also have HVTs who are Tokhang surrenderers,” Bermejo said.
He meant those identified by the police to be involved in the drug trade and voluntarily turned themselves in for documentation amid the intensified antidrug crackdown in the early months of the Duterte administration, but have allegedly returned to the illicit activity.
Others on the HVT list do not engage in the drug trade directly but protect drug dealers in their areas in exchange for money, Bermejo further said.
The latest arrest of the RDEU was a medical technologist at the Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao district.
Jonathan Lobriza, 32, was classified by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency as “HVT level 1,” Bermejo had said.
Lobriza, a resident of Barangay Burgos, La Paz, was detained at the Mandurriao police station. He sold to undercover officers 5 grams of suspected shabu for P25,000 at around 2 p.m. just this Monday, said Bermejo.
Bermejo said Lobriza keeps drug supplies in his house – he called the suspect a “storekeeper” – hence, his PDEA classification.
Lobriza admitted that he has been selling prohibited drugs since 2010 and uses them, too, and that some of his clients were WVMC workers, Bermejo said./PN
