<![CDATA[From Philippine jails, Chinese drug lords are directing illegal trade: ex-police general]>
Chinese drug lords serving life sentences are directing the Philippines' illegal drugs trade from deep inside maximum security prisons, a retired police general told senators on Thursday.
Two other witnesses, including Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, also told the Senate probe into corruption in the prison system that such illegal activities continued today, but at a lesser scale than before the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte.
"We found out that despite being detained inside [New Bilibid Prison, the Philippines' main penitentiary], these Chinese drug personalities continued to remotely manage the drug trade in the entire country," said Benjamin Magalong, former intelligence chief of the Philippine National Police.
Police investigations showed that "all roads practically led" to the prison, said Magalong, who also previously headed the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's operations in Metro Manila. He was elected mayor of the mountain resort city of Baguio this May.
Opposition senator Leila De Lima is currently standing trial over charges linking her to the drug trade in New Bilibid Prison. Magalong said he was reporting directly to De Lima in 2014, while she was still secretary of justice.
Chinese nationals have been singled out by President Rodrigo Duterte in his war on drugs. Photo: EPA alt=Chinese nationals have been singled out by President Rodrigo Duterte in his war on drugs. Photo: EPA
He said he had prepared for her a "special operations intelligence plan" to raid the national penitentiary in order to stop the illicit dealings. To his surprise, he said, De Lima excluded him from the actual raid, which saw the seizure of a lot of contraband but no documents on the drug-dealing activities.
De Lima, who is a member of the justice and human rights committee conducting the probe, was not invited to testify or respond to the allegations against her. She has been detained at the national police headquarters since early 2017.
Magalong also testified on corruption within the police force in connection with drug raids and arrests. He accused police officers of "recycling" crystal meth seized in raids; staging other raids using drug-distilling equipment already seized in previous drug busts; and ransoming off newly arrested Chinese drug lords for 50 million pesos (US$955,000) each.
After the Senate hearing, the senators went into a closed-door session with Magalong so he could reveal the names of the police officers he alleges are involved.
Philippine Senator Leila de Lima. Photo: AFP alt=Philippine Senator Leila de Lima. Photo: AFP
Magalong enjoys a good reputation among the senators since he was the lead investigator on the so-called Mamasapano incident in 2015, when 44 members of the police Special Action Force died while trying to arrest Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir.
He explained that the practice of "recycling" meth started years ago, when police needed the drugs for entrapment operations but did not have the funds to buy them. The practice "slowly evolved into an enterprise " they recycle drugs and sell it," he said.
"Before, if they get 10kg [of methamphetamine hydrochloride], they recycle 1kg. Now it's the other way around. They just declare a little and conceal a bigger amount," Magalong said.
While running the Drug Enforcement Agency's operations in Metro Manila, he discovered that the authorities were not declaring all of the equipment found during a raid. "They will conceal some in another site, then do another raid there," he said.
"Part of their modus operandi is to arrest Chinese drug traffickers and seize illegal drugs. They would later free them in exchange for money and arrest another Chinese national as replacement for the freed drug trafficker," Magalong said.
Vitaliano Aguirre, who was justice secretary under Duterte from 2016 to 2018, confirmed that drug-trading activities were conducted inside New Bilibid Prison during his term. To prevent this, he said he installed mobile phone signal jammers to prevent inmates from using cellular phones.
Inmates sing the national anthem in December 2018 during a peace accord event to stop violence among gangs inside the New Bilibid Prison's maximum security compound. Photo: EPA alt=Inmates sing the national anthem in December 2018 during a peace accord event to stop violence among gangs inside the New Bilibid Prison's maximum security compound. Photo: EPA
However, the jammers were only effective for up to four months, despite the use of Special Action Force personnel to guard high-profile inmates, Aguirre disclosed to the Senate hearing.
Justice Secretary Guevarra, Aguirre's successor, said his "impression is that the situation is not as bad as it was before ... [but] things are still going on".
The revelations came amid scrutiny of the Bureau of Corrections, which has been mired in scandal for its lax implementation of a law allowing prisoners' early release for good conduct " which almost led to the release of a former mayor convicted for rape and murder.
Public outrage over the ex-mayor's impending release led to the discovery that 1,914 people convicted of heinous crimes were mistakenly set free. Duterte's ultimatum for them to return to prison lapses at 12am on Friday in the Philippines, but he has not said what the government would do if they do not return.
As of September 19, police said 579 had surrendered themselves. Of these, 26 had been convicted of drug-related crimes, 160 of murder and 162 of rape.
Among those mistakenly released were 48 foreigners, including seven Hongkongers convicted of selling drugs. The seven have been identified by local media as Wing Lo Ho, Ng Shu Wai, Ho Kin San, Sum Wu Hing, Yue Chan Chit, Pang Ho Wai and Paul Wong. Ng was freed a year ago, while the other six were released between June and July.
The senators on Thursday confirmed that the good conduct time allowance, which greatly reduced prison sentences, was being sold by prison officials. The wife of one inmate reportedly paid 50,000 pesos to two officials from the Bureau of Corrections in a botched deal to secure her husband's early release from New Bilibid Prison.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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