THE Philippine National Police (PNP) welcomed on Tuesday, April 30, the P10-million reward money that Malacañang has offered for any information leading to the arrest of dismissed police officer Eduardo Acierto.
“This will greatly help in encouraging informants to provide information on the whereabouts of Acierto. But with or without the reward money, we will comply with the court's order to arrest him,” PNP spokesperson Colonel Bernard Banac said in a press conference in Camp Crame.
Acierto was among the personalities accused of taking part in the concealment of billions of pesos worth of illegal drugs found in magnetic lifters that were intercepted at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and in a warehouse in Cavite province.
Banac warned that the people coddling Acierto may be charged with violation of Section 4 of the Dangerous Drugs Law (importation of illegal drugs) and stand to suffer "imprisonment of up to 20 years and a fine of up to P500,000.”
Banac said that according to the Bureau of Immigration, there is no indication that Acierto has left the country.
“There are no indications that he left the country because we continue to coordinate with BI, unless he was able to exit the Philippines through the backdoor,” he said.
On April 12, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 35 issued an arrest warrant and a hold departure order (HDO) against Acierto and his co-accused including former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Deputy Director for Administration Ismael Fajardo; importers Chan Yee Wah alias KC Chan and Zhou Quan alias Zhang Quan; consignees Vedasto Cabral Baraquel Jr. and Maria Lagrimas Catipan of Vecaba Trading; and Emily Luquingan.
Also charged were former Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban who was taken into custody by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on April 17.
The DOJ indicted Acierto and other accused in court after finding probable cause in the charges filed against them by the NBI, which stemmed from the seizure of two abandoned magnetic lifters at the MICT.
The magnetic lifters were found in August 2018 to contain 355 kilos of shabu worth P2.4 billion. Four more magnetic lifters found at a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite were believed to have been used to smuggle 1.6 tons of shabu worth P11 billion.
Earlier, Acierto admitted he was in hiding due to threats against his life.
He also tagged former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang as among the drug lords he monitored when he was still a part of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group.
Acierto’s revelations irked President Rodrigo Duterte who, in return, called him a “corrupt” police officer because of his involvement in illegal drugs and kidnapping cases. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/SunStar Philippines)