Enraged De Lima to cop: Name NBI agent involved with drug lords

MANILA, Philippines - An accusation that agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are backing convicted Chinese drug lords angered Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, challenging a Philippine National Police official to reveal names.

"I challenge to name them now. As in now!" De Lima, who oversees the NBI as DOJ chief, said in a press conference on Thursday.

De Lima was reacting to PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Senior Superintendent Jose Mario Espino's  claimed that an unnamed NBI agent may be protecting convicts Li "Jackson Dy" Lan Yan and his wife Wang Li Na.

"Name who those alleged agents are as I will immediately summon and confront him or them ... Otherwise they should shut up," De Lima said, appealing to PNP to leave NBI out of the picture.

Espino claimed that an NBI agent was spotted in a four-month surveillance visiting the apartment of recaptured shabu suppliers.

He recounted that beggars were knocking at the abandoned apartment thinking it was occupied by a pastor when the investigator arrived and drove them away.

"Biglang dumating isang nakakotse, nagpakilalang NBI at pinagalitan ang guwardiya, bakit daw sila maluwag sa pagpasok ng mga taong bumibisita doon," Espino said.

Espino also said that with the couple's recapture, the entire syndicate they were involved in is "on the offensive," claiming that even some government officials and members of the media are behind the drug den.

"Their focus now is to destroy and discredit the police unit and their operatives. They can easily do it as they have entrenched connections among law enforcers, prosecutors, judges and even the media," he said.