EDITORIAL – Protection racket

Long before a witness emerged to spill the beans on a drug protection racket, people already suspected that the one-stop shop for shabu a stone’s throw away from the Pasig City Hall could not have operated for a year without the protection of cops and other persons in authority.

Government witness Samer Palao has told investigators that the shabu tiangge, which was shut down following a raid earlier this year, enjoyed the protection of 21 Pasig policemen. The 21 are under investigation and have been relieved of their posts and transferred to the headquarters of the National Capital Regional Police Office at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

When the drug den was raided, there were also reports that the operators enjoyed the protection of certain City Hall personnel and barangay officials. Investigators should also look into those reports. Barangay personnel have to be completely clueless and do not deserve their posts if a brazen illegal operation like this can escape their attention. The suspected operator of the drug den, Amin Imam Boratong, has luxury vehicles and numerous other assets and could very well afford to keep cops and local government officials on his payroll.

Experts estimate that the illegal drug trade has become a multibillion-peso industry in this country. Suspected drug dealers can pay off cops, judges and immigration officers. They contribute to the campaigns of prominent politicians.

These drug dealers are never around during raids on shabu laboratories. The rare times that they are caught, they manage to escape even from the headquarters of the Philippine National Police at Camp Crame. And even when they go to trial for a non-bailable offense, they are ordered released by the judge, then escorted out of the country by immigration officers.

Now that a witness has started talking about a police protection racket, authorities should make sure the guilty get the strongest punishment. Until the corrupt are made to see that coddling drug traffickers does not pay, the illegal drug trade will continue to flourish in this country.