ILOILO City – The campaign against illegal drugs goes on even this Holy Week.
“We are warning drug pushers and addicts. There is no Lenten break in the war against drugs,” said Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo, chief of the Police Regional Office 6’s (PRO-6) Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU).
In fact, he said, they are targeting more high-value suspects this week, including the remnants of the Prevendido and Odicta drug groups.
“Consistent reports reached us that the remnants of the Odicta and Prevendido drug groups have taken over the illegal operation of their leaders,” said Bermejo.
RDEU has 22 high-value targets in sight across Western Visayas, he revealed.
Of these, 10 are in Iloilo province, three in Iloilo City, two in Guimaras, five in Bacolod City, and two in Roxas City.
Citing intelligence reports, Bermejo said Bacolod City in Negros Occidental has become the main source of Iloilo’s illegal drugs.
Negros Occidental’s illegal drug problem appeared worse than Iloilo’s, according to the PRO-6, citing the number of drug personalities who voluntarily surrendered or got arrested these recent months.
Between Dec. 5, 2017 and Feb. 5, 2018, 66 drug personalities surrendered to the Bacolod City Police Office and 62 to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, said Superintendent Gilbert Gorero, PRO-6 spokesperson.
On the other hand, 126 drug suspects were caught in antidrug operations in Bacolod City and 93 in Negros Occidental, said Gorero.
Among the police offices in Western Visayas, PRO-6 data showed Bacolod City and Negros Occidental having the most number of drug surrenderers during the two-month period.
Recent arrests appeared to confirm the pervasiveness of drug trafficking in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, too, he added.
On Feb. 5 three persons caught in an antidrug operation in Barangay Quintin Salas, Jaro district claimed they got their shabu from a drug syndicate in Bacolod City.
Operatives of Iloilo City Police Office’s City Drug Enforcement Unit seized shabu worth P70,000 from Kyle Brian Siva of Barangay Buhang, Jaro; John Bantiles of Alta Tierra Village, Jaro; and Joji Diaz of Barangay Manguna, Cabatuan, Iloilo.
On Jan. 28, two Negros-bound drug suspects were caught with a kilo of shabu in Dumangas, Iloilo before they could board a ship at the town’s seaport.
According to Jose Alberto Pinaga, 32, and Maebelle Belmonte, 30, they got the shabu – valued at P18 million – from Batangas and they were supposed to deliver it to a drug syndicate in Negros.
The suspects, both residents of Silay City, Negros Occidental, told investigators this was supposedly their third delivery of shabu to the syndicate; the first was made in Dec. 22, 2017 and the second was in early January 2018.
The two claimed they were paid P50,000 for each delivery.
The Negros police recently named two of the drug groups operating in the province and Bacolod City – the Divinagracia and Cuadra groups./PN
