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Friday, October 01, 2004
‘HOW DID THEY GET IN?’
BUREAU of Customs (BOC) District Collector Billy Bibit will have to explain how the imported chemical-mixing equipment seized from a shabu laboratory found their way to Cebu.
“How were these equipment brought in? Why weren’t they discovered?” Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago asked, as she summoned Bibit to a conference.
The fact-finding panel investigating the Sept. 24 raid on the shabu laboratories and storage facility in Mandaue City has also issued summons to the barangay officials of Looc and Umapad.
Since warehouses were used for the illegal operations, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña wants the City Council to create an ordinance holding building owners responsible for illegal drugs activities within their property.
While this is already provided for in Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Osmeña said he wants a local ordinance to be passed so the building owners can also be punished.
“Bantay lang mo diha! Don’t say you don’t know that there is illegal drugs in your property because we’ll run after you if your property is being used for illegal drugs,” the mayor said.
Surprise
Local and police officials in Mandaue City were caught by surprise with the discovery of the “mega shabu laboratory” in Umapad, a mini-lab in Paknaan and a storage facility in Looc.
In Umapad alone, about 675 kilograms of shabu worth at least P13 billion, drug precursors and equipment were seized.
A criminal case for the manufacture of illegal drugs has been filed against the 11 arrested suspects, mostly foreigners.
The suspected mastermind behind the operations was arrested yesterday in Hong Kong.
The fiasco has left Mandaue City Hall officials and the police hierarchy embarrassed.
Mandaue City Police Chief Alex Castro will be replaced.
But even before the raids, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 already submitted a list of five names to Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano to replace Castro.
PRO 7 Director Rolando Garcia said this was not due to the “perceived” two-year-only tour of duty of a police officer, but they simply felt that Castro has stayed as city director of Mandaue for a long time.
Citing a breakdown of police intelligence, Ouano called for Castro’s relief after a series of raids on shabu facilities last week.
Ouano admitted that he was embarrassed when all three shabu facilities were found in Mandaue.
Preference
The admission came before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 raided an empty warehouse in Barangay Tipolo leased to the same man who rented the three other warehouses.
Although Ouano expressed his preference for Regional Operations and Plans Division Chief Augusto Marquez, Garcia said this might be a problem.
Garcia said Marquez is much younger compared with Castro’s deputies, Supts. Alexander Abadinas and Emmanuel Ughoc.
Aside from the two officers, there are others qualified and more senior than Marquez waiting for assignments in the PRO 7 headquarters.
If Marquez were to be designated as city director of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), he would have to go through a long process.
Abadinas and Ughoc would have to be relieved first because they are more senior compared with Marquez.
Marquez would also have to be relieved to the MCPO.
In the meantime, Castro will be transferred to the police regional headquarters.
Mandaue City officials, aside from the customs bureau and other government agencies, are also being investigated as to why they failed to detect the illegal drugs operations.
A separate summons is set to be sent to the business permit issuing section of the Mandaue City Hall.
“We won’t stop there. This is a very wide-ranging investigation. We just want to be thorough,” Santiago stressed.
Santiago, together with the other members of the fact-finding panel, inspected the laboratory in Umapad last Wednesday.
Among her findings is the proximity of the “very large” lab to government installations.
An incidental finding was the “lax” security over the padlocked laboratory and the failure of the PNP Crime Laboratory to secure the shabu and other shabu-making precursors and chemicals.
Although team from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and PNP Scene of the Crime Operations are detailed to secure the facility, Santiago said this is not enough. (KNR/MEA/LCR)
(October 1, 2004 issue)
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