West Visayan drug lord’s days are numbered — Duterte

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines  —   The successor of slain drug lord Melvin Odicta in Western Visayas will also die soon, President Duterte vowed.

Speaking at the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino rally here on Thursday night, the President said that person, whom he did not name, would also soon be dead.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is monitoring a major drug syndicate operating in Bacolod City and some areas of Negros Occidental. This group is linked to a couple recently arrested for possessing P9.6 million worth of shabu.

Col. Henry Binas, Bacolod City police acting director, said the group’s leader is also the source of the drugs seized from Sidney Julleza and his partner Betty Bongay last week.

Biñas also refused to identify the person.

Duterte said the Presidential Security Group had placed a bulletproof glass in front of the rostrum where he was speaking to ensure his safety.

“I’m already 74 years old and if I will die from an assassin’s bullet, I would be happy. I’m already tired and already want to go,” he told the crowd of about 10,000 people. “Drugs are contributing a lot of criminality in this country. I still have three years. I can eliminate all of you. In the grace of God.”

He also threatened to castrate corrupt police officers, a statement that PNP spokesman Col. Bernard Banac interpreted as a warning against police who continue to be involved in corrupt activities, including illegal drugs.

“Same warning continues to be echoed by PNP chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde that we will not hesitate to weed out or discipline erring personnel and file criminal charges against them for committing illegal acts,” Banac said in a text message.

More than 400 policemen have been dismissed by the PNP for links to the drug trade, while another 8,440 have been meted disciplinary sanctions on criminal and administrative charges.

Meanwhile, some progressive groups have called for the indictment and prosecution of police and military personnel responsible for the killings, frustrated killings, illegal arrest and detention of people.

“Those in government who justify the said violations as results of ‘legitimate operations’ have their twisted definition of what is right and wrong. As in numerous cases in the sham drug war and in many other killings of activists, such alibis are proven wrong by the victims and witnesses of such dastardly crimes,” Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said. 

Karapatan, which together with the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura conducted a national fact-finding and solidarity mission, said “the government should refrain from intimidating, coercing, threatening and discouraging the witnesses and relatives of the victims from stating their testimonies and the real accounts on what happened on March 30, 2019.”

It added that it would submit a full report of its fact-finding mission to the Commission on Human Rights and several other government bodies. – With Romina Cabrera, Rhodina Villanueva