Drug lords, rob gang chief face longer prison terms

MANILA, Philippines - Two Chinese drug lords and the leader of the Ozamiz robbery gang, who were recaptured over the weekend, are facing longer prison terms for their escape, officials said yesterday.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology will recommend more charges against convicted drug dealers Li Lan Yan and his wife, Wang Li Na; and convicted robber Ricky Cadavero, whose gang helped the couple escape, said Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona.

The couple were arrested Friday night in a house in Little Baguio, San Juan City, where they had been hiding since March.

In February, they and Li Tian Hua were on their way to attend a court hearing in Cavite in connection with their arrest in 2003 for possessing at least 350 kilos of shabu in three drug laboratories in Cavite, Parañaque and Quezon City when they were rescued by 14 armed men.

Police officers are hunting down Li Tian Hua, who was convicted along with the couple in a separate drug case in Parañaque in 2009, according to Superintendent Romeo Baleros of the Anti-Organized Crime Special Operations Group. The couple said their cohort is no longer in the country.

Li admitted that a member of the Ozamiz gang visited him at the Cavite provincial jail, offering to help them escape in exchange for P5 million.

Cadavero admitted contacting Li and that they planned to rob business establishments in Calabarzon, according to Senior Superintendent Pedro Cabatingan of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 4A.

Cadavero and a gang member, Wilfredo Panogalinga Jr., will also face longer prison terms, officials said. They were arrested in Cavite Friday night.

Cadavero was convicted for robbing a bank in 2009, but escaped from the New Bilibid Prison last year with the help of three men who posed as his lawyers.

Panogalinga – who served time for illegal possession of firearms – is one of the men accused of killing Robert Armstrong, an American executive of an English language testing center, during a robbery at a 7-11 store in Manila last year.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II believes the recapture of two Chinese drug traffickers and a robbery gang signals the start of an improved police force. 

“With reports on corruption of our policemen, we hope the public will accept this accomplishment as a down payment on the new improved police service and performance that we will show you in the coming days,” he said. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe