Anti-drugs chief cites why pushers flee

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – The chief of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Group (PAIDSOTG) explains why illegal drug pushers abscond to other towns in Pangasinan after the police ran after them.

SHABU QUEEN. Alleged illegal drug shabu queen Daria Fatima Lim (extreme left), 
38, single, after she and three male companions were arrested in a buy bust
 operation by the joint elements of Calasiao, Pangasinan police and the Philippine Drugs
 Enforcement Agency in Brgy. Buenlag of the town. Lim is rumored to be one of the notorious 
shabu dealers in the town.  Several months ago, PO1 Jerry D. Mabanglo, assigned at the Philippine
 National Police office in San Manuel, Pangasinan, was arrested inside the house of Lim 
in possession of the illegal drug’s methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and its 
paraphernalia during a raid by the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task 
Group (PAIDSOTG) led Supt. Benjie Ariola who raided it.
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Supt. Benjamin Ariola cited the tendency of the pushers here and those in the cities of Urdaneta and Alaminos to shift to neighboring towns to perpetuate their illicit trade.

He said drug operation in Urdaneta City has been aggressive under the tight watch of its chief of police Supt. Jeff Fanged.

“Merong disruption technique po si Fanged. Pumunta sa Villasis. Alam mo kung ilan ang huli ng Villasis? 145 grams o P300 thousand to P500 hundred ang street value”.

He cited the interruption techniques of Supt. Fanged made pushers scampered to neighbouring Binalonan and Asingan towns.

Ariola would not say what kind of disruption techniques Fanged dealt those scared pushers.

Manaoag did not get the moist eyes of pushers in Urdaneta City because of its location unlike Villasis and Asingan that are stone throw away from the city.

He said after the police seized 198 grams of shabu (methamphetamine hydro-chloride) in Alaminos City, the illegal trade there and the towns in the Western part of Pangasinan became sluggish.

He cited however those pushers shifted to Bani town after 98 grams had been confiscated by police there.
He cited the drugs in Alaminos City came from Infanta town.

Because of the gung-ho operation of Supt. Cris Abrahano, Dagupan City’s chief of police, where almost every day pushers are nabbed, Ariola said pushers in the city run to nearby Calasiao and Mangaldan towns to perpetuate their trades.

“Kita mo sa Dagupan City matinde rin operation diyan halos araw-araw may nahuhuli operation diyan,” he said.

Ariola cited Mangatarem, Infanta, and Urdaneta City as the three gateways of drugs in Pangasinan after big time pushers bought shabu in the National Capital Region and Cavite province.

“Pagpasok sa Mangatarem. So ang babagsakan niyan Malasiqui, Bayambang, Calasiao, Dagupan. Central so kuha na rin”.

He said drugs also proliferate in Bayambang and Malasiqui because they are near Camiling, Tarlac where drug trades thrive.

He said his men seized a substantial size of shabu in Mangatarem.

He said in the tactical interrogation of his men with apprehended drug peddlers most of them incriminate the Muslims as their source.

“Kasi lahat ng sources ay tinuturo, iyang tactical interrogation pag huli ng subject, saan galing ang item? Sa Muslim. Parang Muslim ang tinuturo,” he said.

He said one of the itineraries of the trade from Manila would be a pusher who uses public transport or private car brings a kilo of shabu.

“So bagsak ng Villasis 100 gm, Candon (City, Ilocos Sur) 100gm. Pag dating ng (Ilocos) Norte ubos na ang one kilo niya”

This city chief of police Supt. Abrahano told Northern Watch that one kilo of shabu cost P1 to P2 million.

Abrahano, a bemedaled former Presidential Security Group and former Narcotic Command official, cites the Chinese manufacturer of the illegal drugs, say, in Manila maintains three to five middlemen considered as the first front traffickers. Those middle men have been selling the merchandise with the supply areas ((SA) in Quiapo, Dasmarinas, Cavite, Tarlac, Olongapo, and others where a big time trafficker in Pangasinan province patronizes before he distributes them to the number of drug groups (DG) in the 3 million populated province. The DG would cut into pieces what they dubbed as ”tarya” and sell it to the peddlers in the city and the nearby towns who sell them by even adulterating them to maximize their profit.
(You can accessed here Abrahano's interview "Anatomy of Illegal Drugs in PH": http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-anatomy-illegal-drugs-in-pgasinan.html)

When asked why the Philippine National Police could not arrest big time drug pushers, Ariola explained that the constraint of the PNP is the availability of huge sum in their coffer to buy bust a big time drug pusher.

“For example may budget ka na P50 thousand so iyang P50 thousand mo kahit per bolto ng five grams tapos bibigyan ko ng P15 thousand. So iyan lang iyan, Puwedi mo siyang singitan (fake monies) kung paano mo siya diskartehan pero kelangan pasok lahat”.

He said buy bust operation is not based on one deal.  A police operative has to build trust and confidence before the eyes of the pusher.

“Pag test buy mo bili ka ng P20 thousand. Bili ka uli ng P15 thousand. Ilan ang kakainin noong test buy. Ilang test buys ang gagawin mo?” he posed.