LOCAL GOVERNMENT Secretary Benhur Abalos has been busy since the Marcos administration took over government in mid-2022.
The first big challenge was the assassination of broadcaster Percy Lapid in October last year. Police reaction was quick and steadfast.
Police work resulted in the overhaul of the leadership at the Bureau of Corrections and the indictment of its erstwhile head for double murder.
The breakthrough helped expose what had been talked about in whispers. Killings may be orchestrated from within the walls of Bilibid.
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Abalos was in the thick of things when Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo was assassinated right by his family’s compound in Pamplona. Eight other people were gunned down without mercy.
The hot pursuit and the suspects’ quick apprehension are now firm leads to the filing of charges against at least one politician – a sitting member of Congress.
The men on the ground who did the actual killing used to be military personnel. Their arrest has incrementally helped restore the people’s confidence in law enforcement.
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Going back to October last year. Police seized almost one ton of shabu (methamphetamine) in Tondo, Manila which was discovered in the premises of a lending company.
The lending operations was a sham. What lay underneath was a massive laundromat for illegal drugs.
A simple buy-bust operation led to the arrest of a civilian caught in flagrante delicto selling shabu to police agents. Seen at the crime scene were 990 kilos of shabu contained in plastic bags – a massive haul that could sustain the addiction of the entire metropolis. Its estimated worth is P6.7 billion.
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It was a case of “what can go wrong, will go wrong.”
Also seen at the scene were documents that incriminated Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo, Jr., an intelligence officer of the Drug Enforcement Group (DEG) of the Philippine National Police. His identification card and other ID’s carrying other names were found inside a drawer.
Mayo did not have a single administrative or criminal record to his name.
On May 31, 20022, or the day before Rodrigo Duterte left office as the 16th President of the Philippines, Mayo was one of ten DEG personnel who were awarded for heroism because of a buy-bust operation that yielded 12 kilos of shabu.
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Those 12 kilos are a tiny fraction of the ton of shabu seized in Tondo.
Since it is safe to assume that cops are not into the manufacture or import of shabu, where then did this astronomic tonnage of illegal drugs come from?
The only source would have to be past police operations. The fruits of the offense, for which other people are either dead or in prison, are recycled and distributed to a market that was not dented by Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.
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How could a low-ranking police officer hoard such a large amount of shabu without being detected by his superiors for so long? The PNP leadership itself has admitted that this would not be possible if not in conspiracy with higher ranking officers in the police organization.
Arrested with Mayo was one Juden Francisco who is a wanted man in northern Mindanao, also allegedly for violations of the anti-drugs law.
Last Wednesday Secretary Abalos said higher ranking officers were indeed involved in the Mayo case. He said that he will soon announce their names, and that heads will roll.
We can only hope that he will deliver on his promise./PN
