CEBU, Philippines - The alleged “druglord” who allegedly received protection from Vice Mayor Mike Rama yesterday surfaced to clear his name, denying accusations that he is involved in illegal activities.
Crisostomo Llaguno, 34, popularly known as “Tata Negro,” claimed he never owned a video karreras, but owns a “legal” video games shop that is in operation since 2007 that has a few branches already in Cebu City.
While he admitted that he had been convicted for illegal drugs in 2004, Llaguno said he is now “living a new life” after he was freed from prison about a year ago.
He even accused the police of illegally seizing more or less P100,000 worth of peso coins inside his house in Sambag 2 during an operation last November 29, 2008.
Mark Tallo, who called Rama to seek advice regarding the ongoing raid, told The FREEMAN yesterday that the raiding police took Llaguno’s two sacks of P100,000 peso coins placed inside his residence without legal basis.
According to Tallo, the seizure of the money was questionable because the police were only chasing after a man who fired at them, but the next thing the authorities did was ransacked Llaguno’s houses, one of which, was where the sacks of money were kept.
“Kana nagpasabot lang nga dili ang karera ilang tuyo. Si Tata ilang tuyo… Bisan pa ug muotro sila ug raid diri, ako pa sila ubanan ug tudluan sa mga pasikot-sikot aning balay ni Tata. Tan-awon ta ug naa ba sila’y makuha na mga video karera,” Tallo said.
Tallo said they knew Rama for being a friendly person and that he and Llaguno are close friends with the vice mayor since they were in their 20s.
Last November 29, operatives from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) were about to conduct a raid on a house in Sambag 2, where a video carrera was allegedly operating, but failed to proceed when somebody from the house of Llaguno fired shots at their vehicle.
This prompted the team of Supt. Jonathan Abella, chief of City Intelligence Branch, to call for backup from the Special Weapons and Tactics team, who then went inside the house that was the subject of the raid.
Tallo alleged that the team immediately went inside Llaguno’s residence where his mother, wife, and children witnessed the raid. After failing to locate the said gunman, the police proceeded to the second house of Llaguno located beside the first one, and took the sacks of money allegedly “for evidence.”
After learning of the incident, Tallo, Llaguno’s friend and basketball buddy of Rama, called the latter about the ongoing incident and sought his advice.
It was then that Rama called Abella and warned them to be careful and make sure no one was killed. The vice mayor admitted asking Abella if the team had a search warrant, and warning them to be careful when he learned that there was none.
Following the vice mayor’s call, the police returned the sacks of money which was allegedly the income of Llaguno’s establishment for the month of November.
Llaguno said that police barged into his bedroom and took two of his Oakley brand eyeglasses worth over P20,000 each that were allegedly given to him by his sister who works abroad.
During a visit to his residence yesterday, Llaguno showed his laborers, most of them allegedly charged for petty crimes who were working on several computer stands that will be used for video game machines.
The work, which allegedly targets over 200 stands for the same number of computer units, has started since he was freed from prison last year and decided to live a life away from illegal drugs.
“Mga piniriso pud nang kasagaran ana nila sauna. Unya inana na wa sila’y kapaingnan, ari sila nako. Mao nang ako sila gitagaan ug trabaho,” Llaguno said. — Niña Chrismae G. Sumacot/WAB (THE FREEMAN)