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Monday, November 24, 2003
PDEA confirms NBI civilian agents' drug links
By Claudine C. Dumalag
* Two of the NBI agents were identified as Arturo Pabon and Ernesto Gonzaga
THE regional chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) confirmed that three civilian agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are linked to detained suspected drug lord in Western Visayas, Jose Kim "Boy" Cuadra.
Senior Supt. Lazaro Torcita, PDEA regional chief, said they have been receiving reports that these three agents are still associated with Cuadra, jailed at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, after his arrest for alleged drug possession last April in Caticlan, Aklan.
Torcita said they are still conducting further investigation against the three NBI agents, two of whom were identified by Insp. Joemarie Occeño, PDEA provincial head, as Arturo Pabon and Ernesto Gonzaga.
Gonzaga, however, died in a road mishap early this month in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City.
Occeño said Lawyer Celso Estorga, NBI-Bacolod head, denied the report of his men's link to the Cuadra group.
He added that the names of these three agents are included in their order of battle.
Occeño further said that even if Estorga denied the involvement to the illegal drug business of his three agents he (Occeño) saw Gonzaga and Pabon in one of their joint anti-illegal drug operations last March.
"I actually talked to one member of NBI after seeing them. I told him that those guys were included in our order of battle but they just told me that if I have evidence, I am free to arrest them," Occeño said.
Occeño, however, said that as of this time they have no proof to pin them down.
Torcita said they have not stopped their operations as the Cuadra group is now employing the services of tricycle drivers to sell illegal drugs.
(November 24, 2003 issue)
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