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BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Wednesday, March 1, 2017
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Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency try to open this safety vault in drug suspect Rolando Torpio’s house in Barangay South San Jose, Molo, Iloilo City during a raid on Feb. 28, 2017. The agents failed to arrest Torpio. JOSELITO VILLASIS/PN
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These sachets of shabu were recovered from drug suspect Rolando Torpio’s house in Barangay South San Jose, Molo, Iloilo City during a raid on Feb. 28, 2017. JOSELITO VILLASIS/PN
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ILOILO City – Shabu worth half a million pesos was seized from the house of a high-value drug suspect in Barangay South San Jose, Molo district.
Suspect Rolando Torpio – who is out on bail for an earlier drug case – managed to escape yesterday but his wife Ime was caught, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6.
PDEA agents raided Torpio’s three-storey house around 6:45 a.m. Seventy grams of shabu were recovered. The anti-narcotics agency valued it at P500,000.
The shabu, kept in a brown bag, was found in the Torpio couple’s room.
Judge Loida Diestro Maputol of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 28 issued the search warrant.
PDEA operatives also recovered P13,900.
According to Assistant Regional Director Levi Ortiz, the subject of the raid was the male Torpio but they arrested his wife anyway because she was seen allegedly throwing two big sachets of shabu outside the house during the raid.
Ortiz said they received information that the male Torpio resumed illegal drug activities after posting bail for his temporary liberty this January.
“We have been tailing him since his release from the Iloilo District Jail,” said Ortiz.
Torpio’s wife, meanwhile, denied owning the shabu that PDEA agents recovered.
“Wala ko ya nagabaligya shabu. We have a store kag amo ina amon ginanegosyo, indi shabu,” said Ime.
She claimed the shabu was “planted.”
“We will file a complaint against her as an accomplice. She knows the activities of her husband,” said Ortiz.
In December 2013 the male Torpio was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia at the Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office. His case, however, gained traction only last February 2016. It was raffled to a regional trial court and the following month, Torpio posted a P40,000 bail bond for his temporary liberty.
July 7 last year, Torpio – listed No. 5 in the Iloilo City Police Office’s (ICPO) target list of suspected drug personalities – surrendered. But he was released a few hours after.
Torpio claimed to have stopped pushing drugs as early as 2014. He appeared to be wary of the Philippine National Police’s Oplan Double Barrel launched at the start of the Duterte administration.
Torpio submitted an affidavit of undertaking promising to stay away from illegal drugs.
Within police circles, Torpio is known for aliases “Apa” and “Striker.”
October last year, Torpio asked the court to cancel the bail bond he posted in March. Fearing for his life outside of prison, he sought incarceration at the jail in Barangay Ungka, Jaro.
Before he was taken to the Iloilo City District Jail – Male Dormitory, Torpio said in a radio interview he and the people around him were being threatened.
“Ini para sa safety na lang sang tanan bala kay damo gaka-apektuhan sa palibot ko, nga kon indi ko kuno mag-surrender, ang iban mahalitan,” he said.
He did not say who were behind the threats.
Torpio disclosed that he was previously selling illegal drugs and got his supply from the slain businessman, Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr., whom the authorities identified as the drug lord “Dragon.”
Just this January 13, Torpio decided to post bail again to regain his temporary liberty./PN
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