BY MA. THERESA LADIAO
ILOILO City – The Odicta couple, Melvin and Meriam, were among the high-profile individuals killed during then president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, according to retired police colonel and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chief Royina Garma.
Garma mentioned briefly the Odictas during the quad-committee hearing at the House of Representatives.
When asked by Cong. Dan Fernandez about individuals targeted in the drug war, Garma pointed to the Iloilo City-based Odicta couple, suspected drug lords, who were gunned down in Malay, Aklan in August 2016, just two months into the newly-inaugurated Duterte administration.
“Yes, Mr. Chair, it was public knowledge. It was in the newspaper, like the couple named Odicta, ‘di ba namatay po ‘yon,” said Garma.
Although she did not provide specific details about the perpetrators, she implied that Philippine National Police (PNP) operatives were likely involved.
How the ‘Dragon’ was slayed
Past midnight on August 29, 2016, a Monday, gunmen at the jetty port in Barangay Caticlan, Malay shot to death Iloilo City businessman Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr. whom then PNP director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa tagged as the drug lord “Dragon” operating in Western Visayas.
The assassins also killed Odicta’s wife Meriam while the couple were walking at the walkway of the port terminal around 1:30 a.m. They had just alighted from a roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) vessel from Batangas.
The Odictas, residents of Barangay Tanza Esperanza, Iloilo City, were gunned down nearly three days after Dela Rosa visited Western Visayas and four days after the husband and wife met then Interior and Local Government secretary Ismael Sueno in Camp Crame in Quezon City to deny their involvement in illegal drugs.
Odicta sustained six gunshot wounds on the head, upper right shoulder, butt, thigh and leg while his wife had gunshot wounds in the abdomen and back.
Citing their recoveries at the crime scene, the police concluded there was only one gunman. However, the medico-legal officer of the Police Regional Office 6 that autopsied the Odictas said there could be at least one assailant.
Police investigators found three pieces of ammunition for a .45, a .45 magazine, three fired cartridge of a .45, and a fired bullet of another gun. No firearm was found.
The crime scene was some 100 meters away from the passengers’ exit area of the jetty port.
The Caticlan jetty port is the jump-off point to the popular tourist destination Boracay Island off the northern end of Aklan.
Curiously, the Odicta killings were carried out just hours after Sueno broke the news to the Iloilo media late night on August 28, 2016, a Sunday, that Odicta was caught with unlicensed guns at the Batangas port.
The Batangas City police would later clarify that it was the Odictas’ two drivers and a woman companion who were caught with the guns while inside the couple’s two vehicles.
The Odicta couple already boarded the Caticlan-bound ro-ro vessel at the time the police inspected and caught their three companions with guns, thus they were allowed to leave, according to the Batangas police.
Alex Valero, then head of the jetty port security, said, “Naglalakad ang mga biktima sa ilalim ng mga canopy…ang mga gunmen maaring kasabay nila sa barko galing pa sa Batangas…ang mga gunmen naglakad lang after ng barilan at ang mga pasahero ng barko nagtakbuhan na.”
The Crame Meeting
In the afternoon of August 25, 2016, Odicta and wife Meriam presented themselves to Sueno to clear their names over allegations that they were involved in the illegal drug trade.
Sueno would later disclose that the couple brought with them “highly confidential” documents. These were turned over to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), he said.
Sueno declined to talk about the documents. He said he would wait for the CIDG’s findings.
According to Sueno, the Odictas feared for their lives so they heeded the advice of then Region 6 police director, Chief Superintendent Jose Gentiles, to meet with then PNP chief Dela Rosa. Dela Rosa, however, was in Bacolod City that August 25, 2016, thus the Odictas instead sought Sueno, also an Ilonggo but based in Mindanao.
Sueno said Meriam did most of the talking while crying.
“Nakinig lang po ako sa kanya. Umiiyak, kasi nasasaktan. Nalilito sila. Sabi nila, bakit they are being persecuted,” said Sueno.
After a closed-door meeting with the couple that stretched nearly four hours, Sueno held a press conference. He said the Odictas claimed allegations linking them to illegal drugs were from people who envied their businesses.
The Odictas ran a transport business (50 taxis and 75 vans) and a restaurant. They also told Sueno they have a pawnshop and a gasoline station.
Sueno, however, said the couple confirmed that Melvin was convicted of marijuana possession in the early 1990s and served time in jail.
In 2015, then regional director Paul Ledesma of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said Odicta was in their list of suspected drug personalities.
On July 15, 2016, Odicta turned himself in to the Iloilo City Police Office but denied being in the business of trafficking illegal drugs. He executed an affidavit of undertaking to this effect./PN
