Metro Manila Police Chief Guillermo Eleazar on Friday asked the public to help the government in its fight against the drug menace”•and especially if the drug suspects were public officials or their relatives.
He made the appeal following the arrest of Benedict Carpio, reportedly a son of a village chairman in Tondo, Manila, who was caught in possession of P340,000 worth of shabu, a shotgun, live ammunition and drug materials.
Officials conducted the anti-drug police operation around 4:40 a.m. on Friday based on the search warrant issued by Judge Carolina Sison of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18.
They arrested Carpio inside his residence on Molave Street in Zone 21 of Barangay 228.
Found inside the suspect’s house were four plastic sachets of shabu weighing 50 grams worth more than P340,000, a shotgun, 48 pieces of live ammunition of .40-caliber gun and drug materials.
The suspect is the son of barangay chairman Ricardo Cortez and is included in the narco list of “High Value Targets” by the Philippine National Police. Cortez is still at large.
The suspect is now detained while the pieces of evidence were turned over to the NCRPO Regional Drug Enforcement Unit office.
“We will continue to conduct police operations against those who are involved in illegal drugs, particularly those included in the government’s narco list and their relatives, and that’s why we’re asking the help and full cooperation of the public,” Eleazar said.
In a forum last year, PDEA officials said the drug syndicates were operating in the country in cahoots with government officials, law enforcers and community leaders.
They said shabu, marijuana and the party drug Ecstasy were the top three narcotics distributed in the streets and were being manufactured by Chinese, Taiwanese and Mexican drug syndicates.
President Rodrigo Duterte has also disclosed that 40 percent of barangay officials are linked to illegal drugs or directly involved in drug dealing and trafficking.
Since July 2016, at least 39 village chairmen and 53 village councilmen have been arrested due to their involvement in illegal drugs.