Power and influence protects this drug trafficker. But fortunately, as should be, the long arm of the law caught up with him and that day came last Friday when agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) raided his house after a successful test-buy operation.
Perhaps this man thought he had it all under control because of the position he held in the community, the Muslim community that is, in the province of Zambales.
Arrested was Ali Omar also known by the alias “Philip”, 37 years old and a resident of # G-1053, Block 1, Lot 22 of St. Joseph Homesville in Sitio Balili, Barangay Palanginan in Iba, Zambales.
Omar is not just an ordinary resident of Iba, not an ordinary Maranao who resettled in the province of Zambales. He in fact represents thousands of Muslims spread in various towns in the entire province in his capacity as the president of the Muslim Federation of Zambales, a position he held in the last 9 years.
By his own admission in an interview with this reporter at the PDEA headquarters in Quezon City Saturday, Omar said he was instrumental in the victory of many local politicians in Zambales. “Kapag sinuportahan po namin, siguradong manalo man ang kandidato, “ Omar said.
On the day he was arrested though, not one politician intervened in his behalf.
This is not a surprising discovery after all. In most cases, especially in the Philippines, the illegal drug trade proliferates because of strong backing and protection by organized groups, more often that not, connected one way or the other to the government. In this case, an influential group of Muslim communities with an estimated population of 12,000 in this province, pinpointed by PDEA as one of the biggest consumers of shabu in the country.
Did he name politicians as his protectors? Nope he did not. But mentioned names of those he helped win in previous elections.
Recovered during the PDEA raid, witnessed by barangay officials, State prosecutor Olivia V. Non and one occupant of the house was one sealed big transparent plastic bag containing crystalline substance later tested to be shabu and weighing approximately one kilogram, (1) one sachet of brownish powdery substance, assorted drug paraphernalia, one ISUZU Sportivo with plate number ZTE-913, cash amounting to forty-three thousand and six hundred pesos (P 43, 600.00.00), (1) one caliber .22 rifle and assorted ammunition, five units of cellular phones, one Digital camera, one MP4, three pieces of wallets with pictures and identification cards.
Please note the conscious effort here of PDEA to include the state prosecutor in the inventory of all evidence gathered and all suspects arrested so as to avoid any clash again between PDEA operatives and prosecutors from the Department of Justice.
We all saw how ugly it was when they came face to face in a congressional inquiry on the very controversial case of the Alabang Boys.
Also recovered from Omar’s vehicle was one loaded caliber .45 Taurus semi-automatic pistol which Omar admitted to own, a necessity he said since he claimed to be an action agent of the military.
The president of the Muslim Federation of Zambales was arrested Friday for drug trafficking and maintenance of a shabu-drug den in the capital town of Iba, providing clear leads as to the extent of network of protection that illegal syndicates enjoy in the said province. The arrest of Omar also validates an intelligence information gathered by the agency that the province of Zambales now ranks among the top consumers of illegal drugs, specifically methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, this according to Major Ferdinand Marcelino, head of the PDEA Special Enforcement Service (SES) that lead the operation along with other agents from PDEA’s Complaint and Reaction Unit (CRU) headed by Major Valentino Lopez.
The raid on Omar’s house was done with a search warrant issued by Executive Judge Cielito N. Mindaro-Grulla of the National Capital Judicial Region, RTC Branch 29.
Omar is identified as the most notorious drug trafficker in the town of Iba but at the PDEA headquarters, Omar volunteered said, he is not the most notorious, just one of the manu he says and provided PDEA with more names of others engage in the illegal drugs trade. The information he provided PDEA revealed that his operation actually extended in many parts of Zambales, specifically the town of Subic.
Omar’s illegal drugs operation was discovered following the raids on three drug dens in Barangay Calapacuan in Subic, Zambales last March 13 where three local drug traffickers were arrested. “Omar’s name came up following up that Calapacuan raid and from thenon, we conducted surveillance operations on his illegal drug dealings,” Marcelino said.
During surveillance operation by PDEA agents, several men, coming in groups were seen coming in and out of Omar’s residence with high powered firearms. “We have strong evidence to support the information that he is also involved in gun running, ” said Marcelino adding that they were expecting resistance on the part of Omar’s group that’s why they came in full force, fully armed.
At the surveillance stage before the actual operation that lead to Omar’s arrest, agents of PDEA also found out that Omar used vehicles with non-existent records at the Land Transportation Office or LTO.
Marcelino explained that the agency is now focusing their attention on Zambales because they found a link between the drug trafficking syndicates there and the drug trafficking syndicates in Lanao provinces particularly Marawi City.
“The arrest of Omar is significant in a sense that this validates the informal operational and organizational link the agency has been following up since the discovery in May last year of more than 740 kilograms of shabu from mainland China,” said Marcelino.
The said shipment of shabu, the biggest so far in years was valued at Five Billion Five Hundred Forty Two Million Three Hundred Sixty Two Thousand, a shipment identified with the illegal drug syndicates that included Chinese Businessman Anton Ang, a former locator and investor at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and a certain Robert Lee.
The name to watch here according to PDEA is Robert Lee whose name was also mentioned by their assets in Marawi as the source of the illegal drugs shipped from the Subic Freeport to the Central Mindanao provinces.Marcelino said PDEA assets revealed that Marawi and other Lanao provinces were among the recipients of the biggest shabu-bust in May of 2008.
Omar admitted to PDEA agents, specifically during an interrogation recorded on video, that he met his shabu supplier in Marawi City, whose name he provided to PDEA and identifies him as the link to the “real big guys”. The fellow Maranao he met in Marawi, his source in the shabu-trade also operates in Metro Manila and is based in Alabang.
I cannot help but point to the obvious detail here. The PDEA officer who was introduced to the public as the officer who dared touched one posh subdivision and put into jail the so called Alabang Boys, may find himself in familiar territory again---Alabang because of the revelations made by Omar and witnessed and heard by this reporter.
“This one is talking and we can confidently say that we are climbing up the ladder of this network. Those who are really higher and the highest in the ladder and we have reasons to believe that the syndicates in Zambales and those in Marawi are connected to the real deal, the financiers and operators of shipment of shabu connected to the group of Anton Ang,” Marcelino said.
Ang is the subject of manhunt, a priority order of the president, but has not been arrested. PDEA’s last information on Ang was he is now in mainland China. When will they get him?
In a previous interview with PDEA Director Dionisio Santiago he told me, “Soon, very soon, we will get Anton Ang”.(end)
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