ILOILO City – The suspected leader of the Bolivar drug group has left Western Visayas, said Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo, chief of the Police Regional Office 6’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU).
Ernesto Bolivar of Barangay Guinacas, Pototan, Iloilo, however, remains active in the illegal drug trade, said Bermejo.
Citing intelligence reports, the RDEU chief said Bolivar fled to Metro Manila and used fictitious names to evade police detection.
Bolivar has a pending arrest warrant for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. He was charged although he managed to escape from policemen trying to entrap him in a buy-bust operation at his house in Barangay Guinacas on No. 9, 2016.
The Bolivar drug group operates mainly in central and northern Iloilo province and parts of nearby Capiz.
The RDEU deemed Bolivar the last high-value drug target in the region after two drug lords, Melvin Odicta Sr. and Richard Prevendido, were killed in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Unidentified gunmen shot Odicta to death at the jetty port in Barangay Caticlan, Malay, Aklan on Aug. 29, 2016 while Prevendido died in a police operation in Barangay Balabago, Jaro, Iloilo City on Sept. 1, 2017.
The Bolivar group used to be a subgroup of the Prevendido drug group, according to the RDEU. But it is not only into illegal drugs but also into robbery and gun-for-hire services.
Bermejo, however, dismissed the possibility that Bolivar could be used by politicos during this election season.
“I don’t believe he will stay here and work for politicians. There’s a pending warrant for his arrest. Policemen would surely catch him,” he said./PN
