National Police chief Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa on Monday said the Duterte administration’s drive against illegal drugs would continue, as he assured that more “big fish” will fall in the coming days.
This developed as Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II has issued an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (Ilbo) against big-time drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and several others he implicated in the well-entrenched drug trade in the country.
Aside from Espinosa, those covered by the Ilbo include Peter Lim, drug convict Peter Co, Marcelo Adorco, Max Miro, Lovely Adam Impal, Ruel Malindangan and Jun Pepito.
Lim was earlier tagged by Duterte as among those involved in the illegal-drugs trade in the country.
Adorco and Miro are known top aides of the Espinosas, while Impal was identified by Kerwin as the supplier of illegal drugs in the Visayas.
Pepito, on the other hand, is one of Kerwin’s men who would allegedly transport the drugs from Matnog, Sorsogon to Ormoc, Leyte.
‘Justified’
Dela Rosa justified the operations against Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Jr., who was killed along with 14 others last Sunday dawn.
“There are more, just wait,” he said, adding the death of Parojinog and his brother, Octavio Jr., during the operations showed there are no sacred cows in the illegal- drugs drive.
Parojinog’s daughter and son, Ozamis City Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog and Reynaldo Jr., who is a councilor of Ozamiz City, were also arrested during the operations. They were brought to Manila on Monday for the filing of charges against them.
“To be fair with these people… that should serve as a warning to everyone that there are no ‘sacred cows’ in the PNP’s [Philippine National Police] enforcement of the law. As far as law enforcement is concerned, we have no fear or favor. If you are needed to be operated upon, you will be operated upon,” dela Rosa said.
He added that the PNP will continue its operations against those whose involvement in the illegal- drug trade would be established by ongoing case build up.
“On a nationwide scale, there will be more…it depends on whose cases would be built up and applied with warrants,” he said.
Dela Rosa maintained that the operations against Parojinog and members of his family, which also killed the mayor’s wife Susan, and led to the arrest of six others, were “legitimate”.
The operations were backed by six search warrants, which when implemented by a composite police team at the residence of the Parojinog family in Ozamiz City, led to a reported shootout.
“I know they are meant to be operated upon not to be liquidated. It depends if they fight back, then there will be encounter, we have no control on that,” dela Rosa said.
“Any time is legal time to serve search warrant. It is not stated in the search warrant that you need to serve it only during office hours. Meaning, you are commanded to serve the search warrant on avoid leakage of information…the evidence might be destroyed, then we have to do it on our time. We have to dictate the tempo, the schedule,” dela Rosa said.
Drug complaint
The Ilbo was issued following the filing of a drug complaint by the Major Crimes Investigation Unit (MCIU) of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) against the listed individuals before the Department of Justice.
Specifically, the MCIU, through Police Supt. Richard Verceles, charged Espinosa and his alleged cohorts with violation of Section 26 (b) in relation to Section 5 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerrous Drugs Act, which prohibits the sale, trading, distribution and transportation of illegal drugs and essential chemicals.
“In view of the gravity of the offense filed against the above-named individuals, there is likelihood that they might leave the country to place themselves beyond the reach of the lawful processes of the concerned offices,” Aguirre said in his memorandum.
An Ilbo is different from a court-issued hold departure order since the former only directs the Bureau of Immigration to be on the lookout for the subject and to verify the status of a case against the subject person and not to restrict an individual from leaving the country.
However, a person subject to the Ilbo should seek an allow departure order from the Department of Justice chief to be allowed to leave.