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[av_heading heading=’Witnesses assert Leila link to drugs ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Witnesses in the House of Representatives’ inquiry on the drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison insisted Sen. Leila de Lima’s alleged link to the illegal activity.
Inmate Joel Capones agreed with an earlier witness who claimed the senator tasked the high-profile detainee Jaybee Sebastian to help her raise funds for her campaign in the 2016 elections.
Another inmate, former police officer Nonito Arile, said links with de Lima had made Sebastian an “untouchable” inside the Bilibid.
Capones said Sebastian discussed with him the fund-raising as early as December 2013.
“May isang pagkakataon kung saan tinawagan ako ni Jaybee at sinabi sa akin na pumunta ako sa kubol niya dahil patutunayan niya ang koleksyon ay para kay Sec de Lima,” Capones said.
“Pumupunta ako at maya-maya’y dumating nga si Sec de Lima at nag-usap sila ng pribado,” he added. “Sabi ni Jaybee baka kailangan naming magbenta ng droga sa loob at labas ng Bilibid para magkapondo.”
Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Commando gang members in the Bilibid started selling drugs for such purpose in January 2014, Capones claimed.
Capones said Sebastian showed him four deposit slips from de Lima’s alleged bank accounts from Banco De Oro proving his transaction with the then Department of Justice secretary in March and April 2014.
Arile also revealed how illegal drugs were being distributed from the national penitentiary to various parts of the country.
Arile said he informed the police about the drug trade in the Bilibid, which led to the formation of the aborted Oplan Cronus by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
“Illegal drug transaction was a booming business inside the [Bilibid],” said Arile. “The inmates managed to continue their transaction using cell phones and give instructions to their ‘minions’ outside.”/PN
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