NEW BILIBID DRUG TRADE

LINGAYEN—A recent meeting with President Rodrigo R. Duterte gave

Fifth District Rep. Amado Espino Jr. an opportunity to clear his alleged involvement in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) drug trade.

In a statement he issued last Wednesday, Aug. 31, Cong Espino said he told the President that he is willing and ready to face his accusers and all the pieces of evidence and witnesses his accusers may present at anytime.

Mr. Espino said his categorical denial and the presentation of the circumstances that belie the accusations prompted Mr. Duterte to grant his request for an immediate and thorough investigation and validation of the drug matrix that had been submitted to him.

Espino, a three-term governor of Pangasinan, said a quick review of the immediate past will reveal he “cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be associated, or have collaborated, with Senator de Lima in any undertaking, or with any drug personality, or drug syndicate, for that matter”.

He said he cited how the previous administration was mostly hostile to him, starting in July 2010, adding that Pangasinan, along with the unlucky provinces, was continually deprived of the services of a full-time and permanent police provincial director, and consequently, he did not enjoy the full support and cooperation of the police.

No link with De Lima

“For her part, Sen. de Lima, who was then DOJ (Department of Justice) secretary, allowed herself to be used, and actively took part in a sinister plot to discredit my name and reputation during the elections in 2012-2013, with full media fun fare and sustained coverage, she authorized, and personally pursued, the investigation of a fabricated murder case against me,” he said.

Mr. Espino was referring to the killing of then Infanta Mayor Ruperto Martinez wherein he was named one of the masterminds behind the murder.

He said the issue was finally resolved last August 2015, when de Lima after a thorough review issued the resolution absolving him.

He  added he was also charged, by the same people for graft, of illegal black sand mining, which is still pending before the Court of Appeals and also for plunder.

“Thus, I cannot really imagine how my name landed in that NBP matrix with Sen. de Lima. in the first place, aside from our unpleasant relations with Sen. de Lima, I do not even know anyone at all inside the NBP, and I do not know that driver and barely know retired BuCor director Frank Bucayu,” the congressman stressed.

De Lima and Bucayu are also among the personalities included in the matrix that showed how drug trade was done inside the NBP under De Lima’s watch.  Also named were former provincial administrator Rafael Baraan, Board Member Raul Sison and former DOJ Undersecretary Francisco Baraan.

Mr. Espino said he also cited his performance as a Philippine Constabulary and police officer and later as congressman and governor, consistently at the frontline in the campaign against illegal drugs, among these as one of the primary authors of RA 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and his initiatives as governor.

“It was during my term when a sizeable portion of the total provincial budget was earmarked yearly for the anti-illegal drug programs and the provincial anti-drug council, and consequently, the municipal and barangay anti-drugs councils, were reorganized and re-activated,” he said.

He said he was also responsible for the capture of international drug lord John Jones who operated inside the former American military bases in Subic and Clark.

“I am assuring the President, that I, and the leadership of the Pangasinan provincial government will continue to vigorously support the anti-drug campaign and other projects of his administration,” Mr. Espino said. (Tita Roces)

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