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They are the Alabang Boys, alleged drug users and drug dealers,
caught by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)
during an entrapment operation on September 20, 2008. Their case
became headline material thanks to a two-week-long holiday during
which there was a news drought. Fighting illegal drugs is one of the
most difficult jobs and one of the most dangerous. In Mexico,
enforcers are routinely murdered by drug lords.
The Philippines ranks first in the percentage of
the population aged 15 to 64 as having used shabu or
methamphetamine. A 2004 Dangerous Drugs Board survey found 6.7
million drug users in the country.
The Philippine Star broke the Alabang Boys story
on Dec. 23, 2008 but it was the Philippine Daily Inquirer which saw
its large potential as a campaign story. Apparently, P50 million was
offered to Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors in return for the
dismissal of the case and the release of the three, two or three
days before Christmas. The DOJ people, of course, deny receiving any
bribe.
Richard Santos Brodett, Jorge Jordana Joseph and
Joseph Ramirez Tecson are the most high profile drug suspects to be
arrested by the PDEA after a season in which a number of drug lords,
some of them with mono-syllabic names, got away scot free, thanks to
the Justice department and some influential politicians.
The trio are called Alabang Boys because the
drug entrapment took place inside snooty Ayala Alabang Village, 22
kilometers south of Manila. A PDEA agent was attempting to buy drugs
from Joseph who was assisted allegedly by Brodett who was inside a
car a short distance away.
To his credit, Brodett sensed the setup right
away and tried to speed away. PDEA agents gave chase, firing about
seven shots at Brodett’s car. Miraculously Brodett ducked the
fatal bullets. “He knew how to drive even while hiding his head
and being chased by enforcers,” a PDEA agent told me. Otherwise,
Brodett would have been dead by now. This shows how determined the
PDEA is in pursuing this case. Tecson was arrested a few hours later
in another operation, thanks to information gathered from Joseph.
There were a number of PDEA agents involved in
the chase and I am told even the Ayala Alabang guards tried to
interfere. The Senate should also look into the possibility of
inviting the Alabang guards at the time of the incident for any
corroborative narrative.
The Alabang Boys are now the subject of a
tug-of-war between the PDEA and prosecutors and officials of the
Department of Justice under Secretary Raul Gonzalez. The boys are
said to be scions of influential, if not hugely wealthy parents,
relatives and backers. A parent of one of the Alabang suspects is
supposed to be behind a lucrative government contract having to do
with running (not of humans).
Secretary Gonzalez sneers at the so-called
P50-million bribe offer or outright bribe to DOJ prosecutors in
return for the dismissal of the case. “That means they are richer
than Meralco,” he hisses. PDEA boss retired General Dionisio
Santiago retorts: “The P50 million is cheap in relation to a
lifetime in jail. The punishment for illegal drugs dealing is
lifetime imprisonment.”
Also, Santiago says, “these boys have been
described as salot [curse] by families of their victims.” The PDEA
chief also hints at possible links of the boys to international drug
syndicates. Santiago says “these are no ordinary boys.”
The father of one of the boys, Johnny Joseph,
Johnny Midnight to the many followers of his unlamented toning days
on radio, has gone on a media offensive, defending his son, Jorge.
His son, he admits, “is a social user but not an addict. It’s no
big deal.” To which General Santiago counters: “If I kill
someone, can I say that I am just a social murderer?”
Gonzalez is at a disadvantage in this game. He
is in a damn if you do, damn in you don’t situation. People under
him, including an otherwise well-meaning undersecretary and a
veteran state prosecutor, are under a cloud of doubt because of
allegations of payoff and use of pressure that should have led to
the release of the Alabang Boys.
I like the face-off between Secretary Gonzalez
and General Santiago. Both are very competent people with years of
dedicated service in government. Gonzalez is a topnotch lawyer who
became famous as a prosecutor of the Aquino-Galman double murder
case. Santiago has a 37-year military career and is a former chief
of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and director of the
National Penitentiary. Both men can be very stubborn, which is often
how they get things done.
When Gloria Arroyo named him PDEA chief in April
2006, her instructions to Santiago were: “Get back to work.”
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