ILOILO City – Some commercial sex workers are not only hawking their flesh.
They are peddling illegal drugs, too, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6.
“Kung baga, doble ang kita nila (It’s an additional source of income),” said Regional Director Alex Tablate.
There are those who use their being commercial sex workers as front to consummate their illegal drug transactions in motels, hidden from the prying eyes of law enforcers, he revealed.
“They make it appear that their companions in motels are sex customers when in fact they are trafficking illegal drugs,” said Tablate.
He also did not discount the possibility that commercial sex workers are drug users.
On Sunday a 26-year-old woman who confessed to being a commercial sex worker was arrested in a buy-bust operation of the police at a beach resort in Barangay Sto. Niño Norte, Arevalo district here.
A resident of Barangay Talanghauan, Cabatuan, Iloilo, the woman yielded four sachets of suspected shabu, including one which she sold to an undercover police officer for P1,000.
She also confessed to being a drug user.
The woman was taken to the Arevalo police station and subsequently charged with violation of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).
“This arrest proved that some commercial sex workers were venturing into drug trafficking. We’re delving further into this,” said Tablate.
The PDEA-6 director said his office will be reviewing their drug watch list to find out if some of the listed targets were into the sex trade or using it as front to traffic drugs.
In related story, the Philippine National Police in Western Visayas aims to get this year the 105 remaining high-value drug targets it failed to neutralize in 2019. Included in these targets are elected public officials serving as drug protectors.
The No. 1 target remains to be Ernesto Bolivar, a resident of Barangay Guinacas, Pototan, Iloilo who has been in hiding since 2017.
Police units across the region are hunting him down, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
Of the 105 drug targets, 50 are in Negros Occidental, 32 in Bacolod City, 11 in Iloilo province, four in Capiz, three each in Antique and Iloilo City, and one each in Guimaras and in Aklan.
Police data obtain by Panay News showed that in 2019 a total of 922 high-value drug targets in Western Visayas were arrested, 100 could no longer be located, 30 were killed in police operations, and 444 voluntarily surrendered.
Of the 30 drug suspects killed in police operations, Iloilo City had the most number at nine, followed by Iloilo province (eight), Bacolod City (five), Negros Occidental (four), Antique (two) and one each in Antique and Capiz.
For the 2020 targets, Malong did not discount the possibility that the number (150) could still change.
“Basi may madugang or may mabuhin,” said Malong.
The goal, she stressed, is to sustain the gains of the PRO-6 in the revitalized campaign against illegal drugs, targeting the remaining drug personalities and groups in Panay and Negros islands./PN
