Duterte might clear some but not all Iloilo ‘narco-mayors’

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”
— Plato

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY –– Some Filipino-Americans here said Pinoy illegal immigrants in the United States should stop worrying “because the Trump administration will never touch them with a ten-foot pole unless they commit a crime and violate federal laws.”
There are so many important things to be prioritized in the White House, according to them.
President Trump’s executive order banning entry of Muslims from seven countries for 90 days was part of his campaign promise that he needed to implement or his supporters would rib him, they added.
The controversial executive order has been temporarily suspended after being torpedoed by a state judge.
“Only those with criminal records will be the first to go,” Merlinda, wife of a federal official, told me in a birthday party in Manhattan recently.
“Filipinos are not criminals. They have contributed a lot in the labor and economy of the United State. They are not targets of the threat of mass deportation.”

-o0o-

Misinformation, not miscommunication, will be the king-sized obstacle of the four Iloilo “narco-mayors” in their quest to clear themselves and convince President Rodrigo Duterte that they’re not the illegal drug trade’s Real McCoys.
Miscommunication can be remedied because of mass media’s active involvement in the issue.
Misinformation will further exacerbate the mayors’ woes because of false hopes and false alarm like the recent report that the mayors’ names have already been removed from the “Dutertelist.”
To “confirm” that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has been tasked to exonerate the mayors is both miscommunication and misinformation.
President Duterte merely asked the DILG to investigate the allegations against the 160 local government executives on the “Dutertelist.”

AUTHORIZE

He never authorized the DILG to decide who should be declared innocent and who should remain in the shame list.
The accusation that the 160 local government executives were involved in illegal drug trade came from the president’s mouth based on tips provided by his intelligence network and field investigators.
The president regularly airs his diatribes against wrongdoers in police and government–including his cussing- through the media.
If President Duterte will decide to clear anyone, he will even apologize if necessary.
The grapevine said the president might remove the names of some but not all.

 

Retired Iloilo top cop caught ‘sleeping on the job’

“Let me be clear about this. I don’t have a drug problem. I have a police problem.”

— Keith Richards

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY — If ever the four Iloilo “narco-mayors” will be cleared, it should be President Rodrigo Duterte who will announce it because he was the one who made the accusation in August 2016.
People, particularly the Ilonggos, will only believe and listen to what the president will say next.
Not to any of his subalterns. Not to any agency under the Office of the President.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will have no credibility “clearing” the embattled mayors unless explicitly ordered by the president.
The DILG was supposed to protect the four mayors and other local chief executives implicated in illegal drug trade before their names landed on the “Dutertelist” in presumption that they could only be victims of political harassment and vendetta.
The DILG also can’t declare with absolute certainty that the names of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, Maasin Mayor Mariano Malones, Calinog Mayor Alex Centena, and Carles Mayor Sigfriedo Betita have been removed from the “Dutertelist” if the president hasn’t made a latest pronouncement regarding the hullabaloo.
Even if the DILG will “clear” the four mayors but President Duterte didn’t confirm it, people will remain suspicious and pessimistic.

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THIS retired police superintendent, formerly assigned in the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) or Camp Delgado in Port San Pedro, Iloilo City, is lucky he is no longer in service when President Duterte assumed power.
The retired police official would have joined the more than 200 rogue Metro Manila cops recently insulted and ordered by President Duterte to be assigned in Basilan.
President Duterte would have been embarrassed by the offense made by the now retired police official albeit he can’t dismiss him from police service.
Not all of the 200 rogue cops were implicated in crimes that would warrant their outright dismissal.

CASES

Either they were facing administrative cases for being AWOL (absent without official leave), or were caught moonlighting or doing “extra jobs” not related to their mandate as law enforcers.
This retired police official, who is now a top adviser of a prominent Iloilo City executive, was once spotted in a downtown gay bar when a city hall task force on anti-drugs, pornography and prostitution conducted a surprise raid.
He was not there to moonlight as bouncer. The retired police official, who was then active in police service, was literally snoring near the dance floor when members of the task force barged in.

 

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Dragon’s group did not order the murders’

“I can’t stand squealers, hit that guy.” — Albert Anastasia

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY — Who ordered the gruesome killings of suspected drug lord Melvin “Boyet” Odicta and his wife Meriam?
“Everyone has been pointing to Dragon’s (Odicta’s other name) alleged cohorts or protectors as the culprits. The group did not do it. Killing the goose that lays the golden egg is not only illogical, but also suicidal on the part of the group,” argued a reliable source who wanted to be called only as “Strawberry.”
Strawberry, who now lives in New Jersey, was a former “close friend” of the slain Odicta when the latter was still allegedly “locked in a bitter turf war” in Brgy. Tanza-Esperanza, Iloilo City Proper in the early 90’s with Levi Zerrudo, inmate in the Bureau of Jail and Management Penology (BJMP),
Zerrudo, also known as “Bitas”, was reportedly Odicta’s main rival in distribution of illegal drugs in the area. They were both small fries at that time, Strawberry said.

CHECK

“I checked with the group and they swore they had no knowledge about the hit,” Strawberry disclosed.
He added: “They will have everything to lose and nothing to gain if they eliminated Dragon. Granting that Dragon and Meriam were able to give the list of their alleged protectors to DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) Secretary (Ismael) Sueno, killing the couple won’t change anything.”
Odicta’s lawyer Raymund Fortun denied that the couple submitted a list of their protectors or “illegal drug trade matrix” to Sueno during their meeting two days before the murders.
If the alleged protectors wanted to silence Odicta and his wife, they would have ordered their killing before they went to the DILG, Strawberry pointed out.
He said the murders of the Odicta couple “bore the signatures of highly-organized assassins which no ordinary group or organization can command, maintain and sustain.”
Strawberry said “he was very suspicious with the reactions and expressions” of both Philippines National Police (PNP) chief, Director Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and President Rodrigo Duterte himself after news of the couple’s killings spread all over the country.

FOLLOW

Strawberry said the assassins could have followed the couple’s movement even before they left for Batangas port to take a ro-ro ship to Caticlan, Aklan where they were peppered with bullets while walking in the port area at around 1:30 a.m. on August 29.
They suffered fatal gunshot wounds and pronounced dead on arrival in a hospital in Malay, Aklan
“The signs were not good starting when they were stopped in a police checkpoint in Batangas, where three of their companions have been arrested (after several unlicensed guns were found inside their vehicle) while Dragon and Meriam were allowed to board the ship,” he stressed.
Strawberry also clarified that “Meriam’s former husband was Bondying Porras, not Tikboy Porras.”
Tikboy Porras, murdered in a beach resort in Calumpang, Iloilo City in the late 80’s, was known as “Boy Gold”. Tikboy Porras was a notorious holdupman and hired killer, not drug pusher, Strawberry corrected.
He was reportedly murdered by his former cohorts.

SHOT

Bondying Porras was shot dead by SP01 Moloy Vasquez of the Molo PNP Station when he ran amuck in Brgy. Tanza-Esperanza.
“Bondying Porras was engaged in selling of illegal drugs and his wife Meriam knew about his activities,” Strawberry explained. “Meriam and Boyet Odicta alyas Dragon fell in love with each other and decided to live together after Porras’ death.”
Meriam met Dragon after his release from the New Bilibid Prison.
They reportedly collaborated “and used Bondying Porras’ sources and connections in illegal drugs trade.”
Competitions were still tight among local suppliers of illegal drugs. In the Zamora waterfront area, some of the alleged “notorious” pushers then were Wendel and Tiny Garcia, Alison Benid, and White Deneros.
A certain “Tongtong” reportedly controlled the Jaro-CPU area, “but the Zalbaloza brothers were running the show,” the informant further said.
La Paz district area was then reportedly controlled by “Mommy Fe”, “Bulani”, “Italyano”, “Umok”, and “Mike.”
“Bulani”, nephew of the late alleged gambling capitalist Nilo Soliva, was the first to fall in a renewed anti-drugs campaign initiated by then Metrodistrict Command chief, Col. Vicented Neptuno, who used K–9 dogs to track down illegal substances in raids.
“The playing field was even and Boyet Odicta was among the ordinary players. There were no drug lords then,” Strawberry disclosed.

PROMINENT

“The most prominent name in illegal drugs at that time was Boysi Maloto of Molo district. He was connected to the late former Pototan Vice Mayor Pito Parcon. Maloto was killed by anti-narcotics operatives led by Col. Arada in a raid in his hideout in Molo,” Strawberry added.
“When Maloto fell, the Odicta couple moved in, as they started to gain the respect of big time shabu suppliers in the Bilibid because Boyet Odicta did not use drugs and was only interested in business together with Meriam,” he said.
Strawberry further revealed: “The names of Prevendido brothers emerged in Brgy. Bakhaw, Mandurriao and their alleged protector was a high-ranking police general from New Lucena, Iloilo.”

SERIOUS

When serious competitions for distribution in the city and province started in mid-90’s, violence started to escalate and Odicta reportedly emerged with upper hand because he utilized ex-convicts from the BJMP and New Bilibid Prison to neutralize his rivals and murder those who stood on their way.
“Odicta finally gained control of illegal drugs business in Western Visayas when his rivals started to fall in police raids one after another, and when suppliers in the Bilibid gave him their full trust and confidence. With Meriam’s built-in tentacles inherited from Bondying Porras, they became formidable,” Strawberry concluded. “Odicta solidified his hold of illegal drugs trade when he perfected the protection racket scheme by including in his alleged payola corrupt members of the PNP, government, media, and judiciary.”

 

Odicta once arrested for ‘snatching’

“To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace.”

— Malcolm X

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY — I first heard the name Melvin “Boyet” Odicta in the early 90’s when I edited the stories of our police beat reporters, Ruby Silubrico and Ednalyn Belonio-Diamante, in Sun Star, a daily newspaper in Western Visayas in the Philippines.
If Odicta was not arrested in a buy-bust operation and raids conducted by elements of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) then headed by Supt. Vicente Neptuno in his residence in Brgy. Tanza-Esperanza, City Proper, he was nabbed for, believe it or not, snatching!
Since Odicta was never convicted of snatching, either complainants refused to pursue the case for fear of reprisal or lack of interest, or he was a victim of a mistaken identity as he had insisted, according to police.
In other words, the man who raked in millions of pesos allegedly in trafficking of illegal drugs in year 2000 up and became the most-feared character in the underworld, started as small fry.
Odicta had always insisted he was a legitimate businessman. They operated a taxi company and a restaurant.

‘DRUG LORD’

The man tagged by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and by no less than Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa as “the drug lord”, reportedly began as a mere street hooligan.
His sudden transformation from alleged small-time trafficker and “snatcher” to big-time “drug lord” was meteoric, to say the least.
It was when Odicta began to “collaborate” with Merriam Regalado-Porras, who became Mrs. Meriam Odicta, that his name became a byword and his empire ballooned.
Meriam was widow of the notorious gangster Tikboy Porras of Pototan, Iloilo. Porras was murdered reportedly by his former cohorts in a beach resort in Iloilo City in early 80s.
Porras, who also reportedly dabbled as hired killer, was one of the fast-rising illegal drug traffickers in Iloilo province when he was killed, police said.
Police said it was possible that Meriam “inherited” her dead husband’s connections and sources in the illicit deals.

CONVICT

When Odicta was sentenced to life imprisonment for violation of Republic Act 6425 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, he met some of the jailed criminal bigwigs in the New Bilibid Prison, believed to be the source of first-grade metamphetamine chloride or shabu.
Authorities viewed his alleged connections in the New Bilibid Prison mafia plus Meriam’s “well-entrenched” tentacles as “formidable” combinations.
When he was released under a controversial circumstance in the 90’s, Odicta made a name in the underworld as “Dragon”, his nom de guerre in the New Bilibid Prison probably inspired by the huge dragon tattoo on his body.
Dragon was reportedly both feared by his rivals and admired by his cohorts. His connections were so wide and powerful that he became untouchable for a long time, police said.
The Odicta couple were gunned down by unidentified assailants as they arrived via ro-ro in Caticlan, Aklan on August 29.
They came from a meeting with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno in Metro Manila where they reportedly submitted a list containing the “illegal drug trade matrix”, a report denied by the couple’s lawyers.

 

Dragon stares at death but couldn’t spit fire

“He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY — In the hands of his executioners, suspected drug lord Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr, popularly known as “Dragon”, saw imminent death.
Based on manner of his execution, there was no way Dragon could escape and survive.
A gunman shot Dragon and wife Merriam as they alighted from a roll-on roll-off vessel at around 1:30 a.m. in Caticlan, Aklan. August 28, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Superintendent Dionardo Carlos confirmed.
“Please bring me out here,” Dragon, limping with a bullet wound on the right foot, pleaded to his lawyer Gualberto Cataluna over mobile phone.
The most feared underworld personality could not even spit a fire as he struggled to avoid being finished off after surviving the first volley of shots.

TRAP

But he was trapped. And Dragon probably knew he was finished.
Dragon was supposed to be brought to a Malay hospital but witnesses, including Cataluna, claimed policemen handcuffed him.
Minutes later, the man considered as “the most powerful and well-connected drug lord” in Western Visayas, was dead.
He had bullet wounds in the body and head, it was reported.
Before he died, Dragon witnessed how his wife, Merriam, was peppered with bullets in the back.
The Odictas were declared dead on arrival in the hospital.
The couple were on their way to Iloilo from Manila where they were reported earlier to have “surrendered” to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ismael Sueno.
Cataluna insisted they sought Sueno’s help because of threats they were getting in Iloilo and did not surrender.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa earlier tagged Dragon as “the drug lord.” He had vowed to wipe out all the drug lords in six months.

EVIDENCE

There was no evidence that the hard-hitting PNP chief had ordered Dragon’s killing. He asserted that he does not tolerate summary executions but vowed to “get hard” on criminals, especially the drug lords.
For a while, Dragon seemed untouchable.
He repeatedly denied envolvement in trafficking of illegal drugs insisting he was a legitimate taxi operator. The couple managed the Melvin taxi company, among other businesses in Iloilo City.
For so many years now, a mere mention of Dragon’s name evoked fears among local law enforcers, business rivals, politicians, and crusading mediamen.
He had “friends” in almost all sectors and organizations. He was also reportedly a “benevolent” election campaign contributor.
Residents in places where Dragon had businesses and houses wouldn’t comment about the nature of his other “businesses” and sources of income, we were informed. He also reportedly provided sacks of rice, cash for tuition and hospital bills, among other financial assistance, to poor neighbors.

CORRUPT

Some corrupt cops, politicians, thugs, and media personalities were reportedly under his payroll.
Some of the unsolved gruesome murders involving policemen, media personalities, underworld characters and even ordinary employees had been reportedly linked to Dragon and his associates.
No charges have been filed against them, however, in relation to these gangland-style killings.
Aksyon Radyo, a local radio station in Iloilo City, became Dragon’s fiercest critic and continued to expose his alleged illegal activities amid threats of reprisal and harassment.
Dragon and his cohorts had been charged with trying to invade the radio station two years ago. They were caught on CCTV seizing some gadget owned by the radio station during the raid.
Dragon’s death reportedly left a vaccum in the leadership of illegal drugs in the city and province of Iloilo.

TENTACLES

“At least his tentacles will now start to be decimated now that the main head has been cut off,” a namesake, Boyet, who now lives in California, said. “He was probably killed by his protectors for fear he might squeal on their partnership.”
Boyet said some of Dragon’s protectors “are so powerful and prominent. Ilonggos will be shocked if they will know who they are.”
Boyet, a former underworld character, said Dragon’s protectors had been “looking for the right opportunity” to strike starting when they learned that Dragon’s name was included in the list of suspected drug lords in the country secured by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“They have finally caught him up in Caticlan,” Boyet averred. “Happy days (for the Ilonggos) will come again (after Dragon’s demise).”

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