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[av_heading heading=’DILG: Due process for ‘kaps’ linked to drugs’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Monday, May 29, 2017
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ILOILO City – Which government agency should take legal action against two barangay captains suspected of having illegal drug links?
It is the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), according to Atty. Ferdinand Panes, city director of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
PDEA may file criminal and/or administrative charges against Barangay Captain Keith “Dabing” Espinosa of Monica-Blumentritt, City Proper and Barangay Captain Noemi Jablo of Desamparados, Jaro, said Panes.
Espinosa and Jablo denied having anything to do with the proliferation of illegal drugs in their respective turfs. But they were classified as “high-value targets, level 2” by the Directorate for Intelligence of the Philippine National Police.
“Wala sa poder namon ang pagpasaka sang kaso,” said Panes.
But he said due process must be observed and the two barangay captains could not just be dismissed from the service.
Espinosa and Jablo were among the three barangay captains that the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) also investigated over the proliferation of prohibited drugs in their respective villages. The other one was Remia Prevendido Gregori of Bakhaw in Mandurriao district. She is the sister of fugitive suspected drug lord Richard Prevendido.
Last month, the SP accused Espinosa and Gregori of bad faith and willful disrespect of a DILG circular strengthening the campaign against illegal drugs.
The two village chiefs did not include in their respective Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council’s (BADAC) list of drug personalities their relatives suspected to be involved in illegal drugs, according to the SP committees on police matters and barangay affairs.
The committees, on the other hand, cleared Jablo. They said there was no evidence to hold Jablo liable for gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct.
But just this May 19, Jablo presented herself to the Jaro police station together with several family members who were also suspected drug personalities. They were her son TJ, brother-in-law Russel Jablo, Bryan “Arsap” Jablo and wife April, all of Barangay Desamparados; and Rovel Gardose of Barangay Tacas, also in Jaro.
They denied involvement in illegal drugs, said Jaro police station commander Inspector Ronaldo Amihan.
“They did not surrender last year when we went to their houses after Oplan Double Barrel was launched,” said Amihan. “This year, we tried again.”
Espinosa, wife of former barangay kagawad Jesus “Jing-jing” Espinosa Jr. (also a suspected drug personality), presented herself to Police Station 1 last week and denied any connection to illegal drugs, according to Chief Inspector Aldrin Lamera, police station commander.
Her husband was a PDEA-identified suspected subgroup leader of slain suspected drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr.
Espinosa Jr. is currently detained at the Iloilo District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo serving a prison sentence for a frustrated murder case.
Meanwhile, Gregori’s son and several nephews were also identified by the city police and PDEA as drug suspects.
“It is highly impossible for Gregori and Espinosa not to know the illegal activities of their family members. (Didn’t they wonder) how their family members acquired wealth with no visible sources of income?” read part of the joint SP committee report last month.
DILG Circular 2015-63 directed barangay captains to revitalize their BADACs and prepare confidential lists of suspected drug users, pushers, financiers and/or protectors in their areas to be submitted to the city antidrug abuse council and DILG-Iloilo City.
“(Gregori and Espinosa) cannot escape accountability for not disclosing not only the existence of illegal drugs in their jurisdictions but more importantly the presence of drug pushers and drug personalities within their houses,” stressed the joint committee report.
The recommendations of the joint committee were as follows:
* that a verified administrative complaint against Gregori and Espinosa must be formally filed with the SP before the appropriate penalty may be imposed on them in line with sections 61 (c), 62, and 63 of the Local Government Code
* that the joint committee report be forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas for proper investigation to determine the criminal aspect of the case
“Ang maka-proceed sina ang Ombudsman mismo kon ano ang proper case i-file sa ila based sa Local Government Code and the DILG circular,” said Councilor Jeffrey Ganzon, chairman of the committees on police matters./PN
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