‘Drug lord in 2013 Pampanga raid still in Phl’

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday said the subject of the Senate inquiry on the “ninja cop” controversy could still be in the country.

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said a certain “Johnson Lee” entered the Philippines on Sept. 30, but could not confirm if he was the alleged Chinese drug lord being referred to in the Senate inquiry.

Sandoval stressed Lee has numerous namesakes.

“We have submitted possible matches to the office of Senator (Panfilo) Lacson for verification of his identity,” Sandoval said.

Sandoval added the BI has not found departure records bearing Lee’s name, but said the birthdate and passport number used in the arrival record matched those used by the same Lee who entered in the Philippines last month.

In another development, Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesman Markk Perete said they are also looking into reports that Lee used a different passport and entered the Philippines as “Kim Yu Seok,” a Korean.

Perete said they received the report from the BI, as he also emphasized that they could not confirm if he was the same person being referred to in the Senate inquiry.

Perete added Lee also entered the Philippines on Sept. 30.

“Based on records from the BI, the passport issued under the name of Kim Yu Seok was indeed issued to enter the Philippines on Sept. 30, 2019. No departure using said passport has been recorded,” Perete said.

“The BI is currently reviewing, among others, footage from their closed-circuit television cameras as part of the verification process,” he added.

Authorities are now looking for Lee, allegedly the Chinese drug lord who paid P50 million to arresting policemen who freed him following a drug sting operation in Mexico, Pampanga in 2013. Other reports describe him as Korean.

Resigned Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde, who was then the Pampanga police director, was linked in the irregularities during the raid where 13 of his men allegedly pilfered over 160 kilos of shabu seized from Lee.

As this developed, three agencies investigating Albayalde and the 13 “ninja cops” have sought copies of testimonies of witnesses and other evidence secured by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in its inquiry into the involvement of police officers in illegal drugs.

It was learned that the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have requested the transcripts, sworn statements and other documents the committee obtained in the course of its hearings on the issue.

Also expected to be furnished to the three agencies is the transcript of the closeddoor meeting between Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong and the senators last month.

Magalong, former director of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), linked Albayalde to the 13 policemen in the 2013 Pampanga raid.

The senators last month voted to lift the secrecy of the meeting to be able to furnish the transcript to President Duterte, who later directed the DILG to conduct a separate probe into the incident.

Also to be provided the agencies are Albayalde’s statements and other documents he submitted to the inquiry in professing his innocence to allegations that he benefited from the alleged pilferage and protected those who participated in it.

Meanwhile, Sen. Manny Pacquiao sought to end the Senate inquiry into the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) controversy, which is being investigated by the committee alongside the “ninja cops” issue.

The committee, chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon, has held 10 hearings on matter, and released a partial committee report last Oct. 18 on the “ninja cops” controversy where it recommended the filing of drug charges against Albayalde.

Gordon said the inquiry remains suspended as the panel is working on the release of the report on the GCTA and the alleged “hospital pass for sale” scheme at the NBP.

Pacquiao lamented there have been two Blue Ribbon investigations on deep-seated corruption in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in less than three years, and yet not a single law has been enacted by Congress to fix the country’s broken prison system.

Congress must now buckle down to work and craft the necessary legislation to solve the problems besetting the country’s justice system, he said.

“I have enough of all these investigations about the anomalies in our prison facilities. What we should do now is correct the problem and fix this broken system in our prison,” Pacquiao said in a statement.