Senator Richard Gordon will submit to President Rodrigo Duterte a list of names of about a dozen police officers, most of them still in active service, who are linked to the illegal drug trade.
In an ambush interview, Gordon said Wednesday it is up to the President to announce the names of the so-called “ninja cops” linked to illegal drugs, as revealed by former Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Benjamin Magalong.
Meanwhile, the National Capital Region Police Office on Wednesday bared the identity of the “drug queen” in Manila who is the alleged mastermind of the recycling of seized illegal drugs by “ninja cops.”
NCRPO Chief Guillermo Eleazar said Guia Gomez-Castro, former chairwoman of Barangay 484, Zone 48 in Sampaloc, Manila, was the alleged drug queen who reportedly had left the country.
During the Senate Blue Ribbon and Justice committees’ hearing on the corruption in the Bureau of Corrections, Magalong, who is now mayor of Baguio City, requested for an executive session where he made the disclosures to the lawmakers, including Gordon.
“We know what’s in the executive session and it’s very shocking,” he told Senate reporters, while refusing to give further details.
Gordon thinks “only a couple of them” (police officers) are no longer connected to the drug trade.
While 17 senators voted to authorize Gordon to reveal the identities of the policemen, the senator opted to just send the records of the executive session first to the President.
“[Duterte] appointed these people, so he would make the announcement if he cares to,” he said.
Whether or not the President identifies the rogue cops, Gordon said the Senate will continue its probe based on Magalong’s revelations.
Eleazar made the statement on Gomez-Castro even as 50 policemen assigned in different police stations and offices in Luzon and in Metro Manila were sent to Subic, Zambales, for a 30-day retraining in line with the PNP’s program of ridding its ranks of rotten eggs.
PNP spokesman Bernard Banac said the 50 policemen would be the third batch of the focused reformation/reorientation and moral enhancement program for police officer in line with its internal cleansing efforts.
Castro was the same drug queen being referred to by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Aaron Aquino, who he claimed was selling at least P13.6 million worth of shabu weekly in just two streets in Metro Manila.
Eleazar said the case build-up was continuously being conducted by investigators against Castro.
“We have some information and this is part of our case build-up operation. Our government is exerting a concerted effort. All concerned agencies, including PDEA with the active support of the PNP and other agencies, are working together to combat drug trafficking not only in Metro Manila but across the country,” Eleazar told PNA.
He said they were also looking at the possibility of the involvement of Castro in the death of some ninja cops who were tagged as her protectors in the recycling and distribution of shabu in the metropolis.
He said eight of the slain ninja cops in their records were reported to have been killed by unidentified gunmen, most of them motorcycle-riding assassins.
“We have reasons to believe that she could have ordered a gradual purging in order to stop the trail leading to her upon sensing that her police protectors had already been identified,” Eleazar said.
He said Castro had already left the country and was replaced as a chairwoman of a barangay in Sampaloc in July 2018.
Asked about her whereabouts, Eleazar said the intelligence reports indicated she could be in Canada.
“The subject [Castro] arrived on Sept. 18, 2019, via PR flight PR 119 in Manila direct from Vancouver, Canada. Subject departed Sept. 21, 2019, via 5J931 Manila to Bangkok, Thailand. It seems like she is traveling in/out of the country every month or two,” Eleazar said.
He said they were not discounting the possibility that some of the ninja cops could have been ordered killed by the drug queen each time she sensed that they could spill the beans on her.
“These are all the subject of our investigation. We are also looking into the possibility that she may also have had a hand in the death of some of her drug distributors,” Eleazar said.
“The President has been very tough against illegal drugs. This could be the reason why she has been very particular about her safety.”
Eleazar said this should serve as a warning to policemen about the danger of conniving with drug syndicates.
“They have nowhere to go. Either the drug syndicates would eliminate them or they may end up being arrested or neutralized in our intensified campaign against scalawag policemen,” Eleazar said. with Francisco Tuyay