ILOILO – No drug group operates in the province anymore, according to Police Colonel Gilbert Gorero, director of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO).
But new drug pushers are emerging so the police should not be complacent, he stressed.
“We have their names,” Gorero added.
He ordered police chiefs to run after these drug personalities in a recent command conference.
Since the death of Iloilo City-based drug lords Richard Prevendido on Sept. 1, 2017 and Melvin Odicta Sr. on Aug. 28, 2016, no organized drug group has operated extensively in Iloilo province, according to Gorero.
Even the group of Ernesto Bolivar who used to work for Prevendido was paralyzed, he stressed.
Bolivar, a resident of Pototan, Iloilo, is currently the Police Regional Office 6’s (PRO-6) No. 1 drug suspect. He has been at large since 2016.
“Our intelligence report revealed some members of Bolivar’s group are no longer active,” said Gorero.
Bolivar, who has a pending arrest warrant for a charge of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, is believed to have left Western Visayas.
He was charged for illegal drugs although he managed to escape from policemen trying to entrap him in a buy-bust operation at his house in Barangay Guinacas, Pototan, Iloilo on Nov. 9, 2016.
Bolivar’s men used to operate mainly in central and northern Iloilo province and parts of nearby Capiz province. They were not only into illegal drugs but also into robbery and gun-for-hire services, according to police sources.
The provincial government of Iloilo is dangling a P500,000 monetary reward to whoever could give information leading to Bolivar’s arrest.
Bolivar has lots of money to buy protection from policemen and even businessmen, sources told Panay News.
Hehas also tapped the services of “new players” in his drug trafficking operation to avoid detection, sources added./PN
