MANILA – Slain Western Visayas drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr. has a successor and President Rodrigo Duterte is not pleased.
In a speech at a Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan campaign rally in Bacolod City recently, Duterte warned the new drug lord, “Patayin rin ‘yan. Ah, sigurado.”
Odicta and wife Meriam of Barangay Tanza Esperanza, Iloilo City were shot to death by unidentified armed men at the jetty port of Caticlan, Malay, Aklan on Aug. 29, 2016.
“Sinong naghahawak dito? Bakit maraming ugok dito noon? Odicta. Sinong nagpalit? Huwag ko munang sabihin. Patayin rin ‘yan. Ah, sigurado,” said the President.
The Odictas were gunned two weeks after Duterte tagged Iloilo the “most shabulized” in the country on Aug. 7, 2016.
The President, who is known to name and shame personalities with alleged links to illegal drugs, declined to identify Odicta’s successor but told his Bacolod City audience, “Eh alam mo, dumaan ako pagka-prosecutor. At minsan killer rin ako. Eh putang ina, kung gusto mong ganun, talagang hihiritan kita.”
The Odictas were killed four days after meeting then Interior and Local Government secretary Ismael Sueno in Camp Crame, Quezon City to deny their involvement in illegal drugs. Scene of the Crime Operatives said the male Odicta sustained six gunshot wounds on the head, upper right shoulder, butt, thigh and leg while his wife had gunshot wounds in the abdomen and back.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is currently monitoring a major drug syndicate in Bacolod City and some areas of Negros Occidental. Shabu worth P9.6 million was recently seized in an antidrug operation.
After having been informed of Odicta’s death in August 2016, President Duterte stated matter-of-factly, “That is not my problem. He was wanted, and he was the No. 1 drug lord. Talagang drug lord ito.”
According to the President, Odicta “was corrupting everybody — lahat, pati iyong mga governors. May isang governor dito sa Visayas. I named him before. If you do not believe me, go to Cebu.”
Odicta was “really being hunted,” said the President. “Inabot talaga siya ng malas. Sino ang sumunod dito kay Odicta? Bakante ngayon.”
Duterte had vowed to cleanse the country of illegal drugs./PN
