THE House committee on dangerous drugs chaired by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers will hold a hearing today on the anomalous seizure of 990 kilos of shabu in Tondo, Manila last October to unmask the “ninja cops” involved in the alleged “recycling” of illegal drugs or the modus of reselling the seized contrabands.
Barbers said the panel has invited to the hearing PNP officers, particularly those who were seen on the video footage at the crime scene at the WPD Lending office on A. Bonifacio St., Tondo, Manila.
They are Police Lt. Gen. Benjamin Santos Jr., then the Deputy Chief PNP for Operations; Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo, former director of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG); Col. Julian Olonan, chief of PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) Special Operations Unit (SOU) Region 4A; and Capt. Jonathan Sosongco, head of the PDEG SOU 4A arresting team.
Also invited were Lt. Col. Arnulfo Ibañez, OIC of PDEG SOU National Capital Region (NCR); Maj. Michael Angelo Salmingo, deputy of PDEG SOU NCR; Lt. Col. Glenn Gonzales of Quezon City Police District; Lt. Ashrap Amerol, intelligence officer of PDEG Intelligence and Foreign Liaison Division; Lt. Col. Harry Lorenzo, Manila Police District Moriones Station Commander; and Captain Randolph Piñon, chief of PDEG SOU 4A Intelligence Section.
Barbers said the other resource persons invited to the hearing are Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr., Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla, PNP chief Maj. Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr., Ret. P/Gen. Virgilio Lazo, head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, former PDEA chief Wilkins Villanueva, former PDEA NCR Director Alvin Alvarin, Bienvenido Rubio of the Bureau of Customs, Admiral Artemio Abu, chief of the Philippine Coast Guard, NBI Director Medardo De Lemos, and ex-Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., owner of the WPD Lending where the 990 kilos of shabu were seized.
Barbers said the public has been kept in the dark on what had transpired in the PNP’s internal investigations on the incident and the identities of the officers charged in court for their alleged attempts to recycle 42 kilos of shabu and cover-up of the incident.
“As far as we know, only dismissed P/MSgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr. had been charged in court. We have not heard or seen any details of his administrative and criminal cases. What about the other officers who we believe participated in the alleged double coverup and double recycling attempts in said incident,” Barbers said.
Mayo was arrested by PDEG operatives on October 9 last year in Quiapo, Manila with two kilos of shabu worth P13.6 million. He was nabbed a day after the Tondo raid at his lending firm where 990 kilos of shabu worth P6.7 billion were seized.
Later on, Abalos urged 10 PNP officials, including two generals, to tender their leave of absence after exposing a “massive attempt” to cover up Mayo’s arrest.
The officers urged to take a leave of absence included former Santos, currently assigned with the office of the PNP chief; and Domingo, who took a leave of absence as PDEG director in response to Abalos’ call, only to be relieved from his post later.
“And based on documents, police reports, video footages and TV interviews by police officers involved in the case, we have noticed irreconcilable inconsistencies on their narrative of the incident, particularly the narrative that Sgt. Mayo was arrested in a buy-bust operation at 9 p.m. of October 8, 2022 for possession of two kilos of shabu,” Barbers said.
Barbers said the ongoing PNP investigations on the case is “deafeningly silent on Mayo’s stockpile of more than 990 kilos of shabu.”
