‘Betrayal of the highest order’

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) received another slap in the face as it was driven away by the local government of Taguig from its city-owned building.

The first slap was when the PDEA southern district office was caught red-handed in possession of P9.18 million worth of confiscated drugs about to be resold in the drug market.

The Taguig City government gave a building to the PDEA southern district unit for free, apparently expecting the agency to help the city fight drug abuse and trafficking.

“It is a betrayal of the highest order. The criminal participation of drug enforcers in illicit drug activities, using facilities provided by the city, is repugnant and inexcusable,” said Mayor Lani Cayetano.

Let’s hope the Taguig City local government will also look in its backyard. There are reports of abuses committed by some of its city policemen against poor civilians.

Admittedly, Taguig cops are well-behaved when dealing with civilians who work in the city’s business district and those who patronize upscale stores, restaurants and bars at the Bonifacio Global City or BGC.

It’s just as well. Most civilians employed by big multinational and local firms or customers of business establishments at the BGC can fight back.

Moneyed people know their rights; the poor don’t and are therefore treated as pushovers by abusive cops.

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I remember an incident several years ago when a taxicab driver sought redress from the now-defunct Isumbong mo kay Tulfo. This happened after he was taken to a barangay hall on the fringes of Fort Bonifacio over a traffic incident in Pasay City.

Clearly, the Taguig barangay tanod (village guards) aboard a van that figured in the traffic incident on the Pasay side of EDSA was operating out of their jurisdiction.

But they convinced the cab driver to go with them to their barangay hall in Taguig, where they arrested him.

Some policemen assigned to the barangay hall handcuffed the poor driver and detained him for hours.

The driver was only released after his operator made representations for him.

Isumbong’s attempts to complain to the then-Mayor Lino Cayetano, Senators Alan Peter and Pia’s sibling, on behalf of the driver proved futile.

Lino Cayetano’s reason for not talking to us – as told to us by his subordinates – was that he was too busy attending to other matters.

Lino is now back in show business, breaking the cycle of swapping places with his brother and sister-in-law in running the city or congressional district.

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As mentioned in Saturday’s column, the PDEA agents who raided the houses in the gated Ayala Alabang village looted them of valuables.

The houses raided were suspected of being drug dens. Two foreigners and a Filipino were arrested during the raid.

The valuables looted by the PDEA agents didn’t have anything to do with the illegal drug trade – a Rolex watch, all clothes in the closets, P300,000 in cash, food in the refrigerator (including meat for steaks), grocery items on the shelves, alcoholic drinks, two French bulldogs worth millions of pesos, brand-new car speakers, coffee machines, an electronic piano, a microwave oven, an iPad, a PlayStation video game computer, a laptop and home decors.

The items mentioned above belonged to Canadian Ariana Golesorkhi, one of the two foreigners in custody.

The other looted items, which belonged to French Aurelien Cythere, consisted of one Omega Jupiter swatch, one Omega Mars swatch, three bottles of perfume, a pair of Nike shoes, one small Nike bag, a smartphone (Oppo A96), a JBL speaker unit, a pair of Adidas sneakers, five bracelets from Tanzania, US$2,000 in cash, 300 Qatar rials, five branded shirts, two pairs of sandals and a wallet containing credit cards and IDs.

Going over the items stolen from the houses by the PDEA raiders, I felt like puking. I felt ashamed for our law enforcers; they’ve become common thieves!

I wonder if PDEA chief Moro Lazo will try to get back the items stolen by his men.

Lazo is a retired general of the Philippine National Police (PNP), whose members are no better than PDEA agents who raid the homes of crime suspects.

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It is public knowledge that many policemen and even soldiers have a proclivity for looting.

During the five-month siege of Marawi City in 2017, millions of pesos were looted from abandoned houses by soldiers and members of the PNP Special Action Force. This is according to reports I received from house owners and even some of the soldiers themselves.

The only soldiers who turned over to the authorities cash they stumbled upon were Marines led by a lieutenant.

Some military top brass allegedly became instant millionaires from the looted money.

Another instance where soldiers acted on the inclination to loot happened in the raids on the mansions belonging to the Ampatuan family, who masterminded the infamous Maguindanao massacre in November 2009.

Army soldiers cleaned out the vault of one of the Ampatuan mansions. It contained P800 million in cold cash.

Soldiers who raided the other houses or mansions of the Ampatuan family also helped themselves to large amounts of money.

Like most Muslim families, the Ampatuans don’t deposit their money in banks; instead, they keep it in their homes.

In the case of the Ampatuans, they would buy the vaults of banks that went belly-up to keep their money safe.