Five in Taguig Top 10 drug list now behind bars
114 drug dealers now off the streets for first half of 2015
If the latest figures were any indication of success, Taguig is making a serious dent in the operations of syndicates peddling illegal drugs in the city with the arrests of 114 suspected drug traffickers – including the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th “most wanted” in the city’s Top Ten Illegal Drug Target Personalities – just for the first half of 2015.
And in fact, to attest to the intensification of police operations against drugs, the 4th “most wanted” in the city’s war against illegal drugs was just arrested this weekend. Richard Silvestre, along with six others, was arrested during a police operation that yielded 40 grams of shabu worth P200,000.
As for the first six months of the year, police records show that the number of apprehensions related to illegal drugs has increased by almost 70% compared to what was posted from January to June of 2014, which stood at 68, and included high-profile syndicate members Jackie Abone and Rawie Castro, No. 2 and 5 respectively in the city’s drug hotlist.
“This is a victory worth mentioning because as we put more pushers behind bars, we take off more illegal drugs in our streets and consequently out of the reach of our citizens, especially our children,” Mayor Lani Cayetano said.
“This is also to strongly reiterate what has been our stand in the local government: that illegal drugs have no place in our community. I commend the Taguig police for such exemplary work.”
Taguig City police chief Senior Superintendent Arthus Felix Asis also said a total of 213.997 grams of metampethamine hydrochloride or shabu and 37.804 grams of marijuana have been confiscated during various arrests and drug busts for the first half of this year.
He said the Taguig PNP has been coordinating with national authorities like the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Dangerous Drugs Board in stepping up the drive against illegal drugs.
“We all know what illegal drugs do to lives of our people and to the communities they live in. Let us help each other in dealing a final blow to the drug menace,” Mayor Lani added.
Intensified War vs. Illegal Drugs
Since the local chief executive took the helm in Taguig in 2010, she initiated an intensified war against illegal drugs syndicates that had been allowed to thrive in the city under the noses of past administrations. In fact, before Mayor Lani was elected mayor, Taguig had been declared as an illegal drugs “hotspot.”
Since then, prominent drug syndicates started to fall one by one, the most recent of which is the arrest of Richard Silvestre, the No. 4 in the Top Ten drug personalities, just this weekend.
And last week, police apprehended Isidro Llagas, 44, the No. 7 in the hotlist. His arrest followed that of Mardie Talampas, 44, the No. 8 in the hotlist, who was put behind bars just last month.
Also, earlier this year, members of the Abone Group were collared where some 108.6 grams of shabu had been confiscated.
Jackie Abone, one of the arrested suspects, has been listed as the No. 2 Most Wanted by the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group and No. 10 in the list of the NCRPO Illegal Drugs Target Personalities.
On July 13, 2015, anti-drug agents arrested Rawie Castro, the 5th in the Taguig hotlist, along with Bernardo Eslao, Aileen Magpantay, Alexander Manalo and Nyljohn Peralta following two anti-drug operations in the city. The suspects were arrested while trying to sell shabu to undercover agents in two separate occasions.
In the past, prominent members of the Tinga Drug Syndicate, which included Joana Tinga and Henry Tinga, fell into the dragnet of the police during a raid in Barangay Sta. Ana a few years ago.
The Taguig police was able to capture Elisa “Ely” Tinga, an alleged key member of the Tinga Drug Syndicate and the third most wanted in the police watchlist. ###