News Roundup 25 December 2022
Dec 25, 2022 • 5 min Read
Azurin: PNP exec brought back ninja cop to PDEG | PHILSTAR.COM – A ranking police official is under investigation after it was found out that he was the one who reassigned to the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) a policeman who was later implicated in the storage of nearly a ton of methamphetamine hydrochloride shabu worth P6.7 billion seized in Manila last October. PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said the official was the one who brought back S/Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr. to the PDEG, who was arrested in a sting that yielded 990 kilos of shabu on Oct. 8. “Ito ay through the instruction ng isang high-ranking officer. Of course hindi muna natin papangalanan as of now,” Azurin told reporters in an interview on the sidelines of his visit to patients at the PNP General Hospital at Camp Crame in Quezon City. Azurin declined to identify the police official believed to be Mayo’s backer as the investigation is still ongoing. Sen. Ronald dela Rosa earlier revealed that Mayo was among the ninja cops, or police officers involved in the illegal drug trade, whom he reassigned to Mindanao in 2016 when he was PNP chief. Dela Rosa expressed concern how Mayo was reassigned to the PNP’s anti-narcotics unit despite his background.
3 Chinese nabbed for Pinay’s kidnap | PHILSTAR.COM – Three Chinese nationals who were allegedly involved in the kidnapping of a Filipino woman whom Sen. Grace Poe said was brought to a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) in Cavite were arrested in Makati and Pasay, police announced yesterday. Pasay police chief Col. Byron Tabernilla identified the suspects as Jia He Zhang, 28; Yun Gao, 29, and Lie Wang, 32, who were apprehended on Dec. 19. Zhang and Gao were captured along Chino Roces Avenue in Makati and Wang along Taft Avenue in Pasay. Police seized a .45-caliber handgun, a 9mm pistol and an M1 fragmentation grenade from the suspects. Tabernilla said the Chinese men were the ones who kidnapped the sister-in-law of Poe’s trusted friend. In a privilege speech on Dec. 14, Poe revealed the victim was snatched in Pasay and brought to a POGO dormitory in Cavite, where she was sold off to a Chinese-looking buyer. Poe said the suspects offered the victim a job as a personal assistant for P100,000. They then forced her into a Mitsubishi Xpander multi-purpose vehicle (MPV). Tabernilla said they tracked down the vehicle’s registered owner through its conduction sticker. It turned out the vehicle was rented by a group of people, he added. Using the global positioning system installed in the MPV, police traced its location and took the driver into custody. It turned out the suspects panicked and ordered the vehicle disposed of after Poe bared the kidnapping in her speech. Asiatico added that the suspects instructed him to rent another sport utility vehicle to pick up another POGO applicant. Zhang and Gao face charges for violating Republic Act 10591, the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition, while Wang was slapped with charges for possession of an explosive. Tabernilla said they will coordinate with Poe for the victim’s identity so they could file additional charges against the suspects, who are detained at the Pasay police station’s detention cell.
BuCor’s Christmas gift: ‘Inmate-to-inmate’ visits | INQUIRER.NET – The names of the inmates interviewed have been changed in this report, as per the media policy of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). Upon entering the social hall of New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, 45-year-old Marielle broke into tears as she saw her husband Rolando, 73. They were separated more than five years ago and now were finally having a reunion—but both still serving time in different penal facilities. “Please look at me,” Marielle said, palming his creased cheeks, likewise damp with tears. They touched foreheads and noses as they tightly hugged, two orange uniforms for a moment becoming one. Rolando had obviously grown thinner, his face bearing the sharpest change. They had been incommunicado since 2017; no letter came from the unschooled Rolando. So it came as a shock for Marielle to learn two days before Christmas that her husband had developed “bone cancer”—or at least that’s how he described the cause of his aching legs and knees. “It’s painful for me to be unable to take care of him,” said Marielle, who was brought to Bilibid from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City. Both serving life sentences for selling illegal drugs, the couple were among the first persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who experienced something unprecedented in the BuCor’s history: Inmates being allowed en masse to visit loved ones held in another prison. Thirty female PDLs from CIW traveled 30 kilometers to NBP on Friday to visit their husbands or sons in Bilibid. The women made up the first batch and more would follow as such “special visits” had been arranged up to Jan. 1. “We want our PDLs to feel the spirit of Christmas, so they can also enjoy the holidays with their family even if it’s just for a short period of time,” BuCor acting Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. told reporters who were allowed to observe Friday’s reunions. “The physical presence of their family will give PDLs the courage to fully serve their sentences and maintain good behavior so that their release may be expedited,” he added. He said it was the first time for the BuCor management to allow such “inmate-to-inmate” visits without being formally asked. Under normal circumstances, inmates need to make a request and bear with a long process—sometimes taking years—to get permission for such visits. Most pleas are rejected. Over the next eight days, the NBP social hall will be extra busy, with more than the usual number of monobloc chairs and tables, for bittersweet reunions like that of Marielle and Rolando. Technically it is not a conjugal visit where some privacy is allowed. The meetings are confined to the social hall, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
