Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has ordered Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) director Colonel Joeresty Coronica to determine the source of illegal drugs in the city.
This was after Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido revealed during a House of Representatives quad-committee hearing that the source of the illegal drugs was not from Iloilo, but it was from Bacolod City.
“Our police should find out and investigate the source of illegal drugs in Bacolod City,” Benitez said.
He said Coronica should double its efforts to address the proliferation of illegal drugs.
He added that BCPO also informed him about its recent accomplishment in the campaign against illegal drugs where almost P7 million worth of illegal drugs were seized in various drug bust operations.
Espenido, a controversial police official linked to the killings of alleged narco-politicians, has been assigned to the Police Regional Office in Western Visayas (PRO-6) in 2019 and detailed at BCPO.
Moreover, Coronica said he doesn’t believe in the statement of Espenido that Bacolod is the source of illegal drugs.
“Maybe during his time when he was assigned in BCPO,” he said.
He added they determined that the supply of illegal drugs in Bacolod City was sourced from Luzon.
Coronica noted that based on their recent drug bust operations, the drug personalities admitted that they have a supplier from Luzon.
“There’s no shabu laboratory in Bacolod and most of the supply was from Luzon,” Coronica said.
Coronica disclosed that they also monitored drug groups operating in Bacolod City which include the Caunda and Bugalon drug groups. /MAP