BULUAN, Maguindanao—President Rodrigo Duterte admitted on Friday that while the big bosses of narcotics syndicates may be beyond his reach because they are in another country, he can still do much to disrupt their activities so that they will stop operating in the country.
“I can’t arrest the big fish here because they are not here. They are beyond reach [because] they are in another country,” Duterte said in a speech before Maguindanao leaders, hours after the authorities killed another Chinese national who is believed to be a big-time drug trafficker.
Philippine National Police Chief Ronaldo dela Rosa identified the slain suspect as Mico Tan, who is believed to be involved in the establishment of several illicit laboratories for making methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, in the country.
Tan was killed by drug enforcers who raided another clandestine shabu laboratory at Barangay Lingunan in Valenzuela City at about 4:15 a.m. Friday.
Five other Chinese nationals— identfiied as Xiong Bonhe, Xiao Zhenhe, Hao He, Hu Yinglie and Bea Payas—were also arrested at the shabu laboratory where lawmen found a still undetermined amount of shabu and its precursor chemicals.
Drug enforcers said Tan was involved in the establishment of a shabu laboratory in Naic, Cavite in 2003 along with suspected drug lord Li Langyan, alias Jackson Dy, and his wife Li Wangna.
Tan is also believed to have been behind the shabu laboratory found on Scout Chuatoco in Quezon City where 70 kilograms of shabu and 350 kilograms of ephedrine, the main component of shabu, were seized by drug enforcers.
“More big-time Chinese drug lords will be neutralized in the coming days,” Dela Rosa said. “Slowly we will get them.”
Duterte, on the other hand, said the traffickers caught in the country may only be subalterns of big bosses based in another country, disrupting their operations may force the narcotics syndicates to stop their operations in the country.
“That is why the police are arresting the runners. If they will stop their activities here, the drug lords can no longer operate,” Duterte said.
Dela Rosa confirmed that the slain Tan was part of a syndicate that has been operating in the country since 2003 and only stopped when the Li couple were arrested in 2008.
The Li couple along with another suspected drug lord Li Tiamhua were convicted of drug trafficking in 2009, but were able to “escape” while they were being transported to a court hearing in Trece Martires, Cavite in February 2013.
Jackson Dy and his wife were rearrested in a rented condominium in San Juan City but their compatriot Li Tianhua disappeared and is believed to have fled to China.