The New Bilibid Prison drug trafficking scandal is a criminal investigation and political scandal concerning allegations of government involvement in illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, Philippines. The allegations were made by President Rodrigo Duterte after announcing that the two top convicted drug lords in the country continued to run their drug rings from inside the national penitentiary with former administration officials and their local government cohorts as co-conspirators.
On August 25, 2016, Duterte released a drug matrix showing the structure of drug trafficking operations at the New Bilibid Prison and identified the two former top officials of the Department of Justice, the former provincial governor and board member of Pangasinan, and the former Bureau of Corrections director as being involved in the Bilibid narcotics trade.
Background Reports of illegal drug trafficking and use among inmates of the New Bilibid Prison have surfaced increasingly since 2014 when officials under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III launched a series of raids under Oplan Galugad ("Operation Surprise Inspection") at the national penitentiary. In a much publicized December 2014 raid, the police discovered methamphetamine () and other drug paraphernalia, inflatable sex dolls, a stripper bar and jacuzzi spread across 19 air-conditioned villas () built for convicted drug dealers.
In subsequent raids, police also found other items and contrabands prohibited in the prison such as firearms and bladed weapons, mobile phones, flat screen TVs, laptops, WIFi, luxury Patek Philippe, Cartier and Rolex watches, sauna and over in cash from body searches of several high profile inmates.
In the luxurious villa of convicted drug lord Peter Co linked by secret pathways to areas around the Bilibid, authorities also seized documents containing a list of names with corresponding cash amounts and dates. In another kubol occupied by convicted drug lord and robbery gang leader Herbert Colanggo, a 60-square-meter music studio was discovered where he reportedly was able to even produce a music video that went viral on YouTube.
The Department of Justice, which supervises the New Bilibid Prison through its Bureau of Corrections, conducted more than 30 raids from 2014 to 2016 under then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
Despite the raids which resulted in the termination and replacement of prison personnel, the transfer of several convicted drug dealers to the National Bureau of Investigation detention facility, the demolition of luxurious prison villas, and regular searches and seizures, illegal drug trade continued at the maximum security prison as the Secretary admitted in 2015.
The issue of illegal drug operations at the Bilibid persisted throughout the remaining months of Aquino's term and even became a contentious election topic in 2016. During the 2nd presidential debate held in Cebu City in March 2016, Duterte called administration candidate and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas a "fraud" and blasted the administration for "allowing shabu to be cooked inside the national penitentiary."
Leila de Lima, then running for senator, slammed Duterte's allegation and said there was no truth in the claims that drug trade flourished in the Bilibid during the Aquino administration.
Allegations
Following his victory in the May 2016 elections, Duterte launched an intensified anti-drug campaign and ordered the investigation of the personalities behind the proliferation of illegal drug trade at the Bilibid. The new Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II reported that 75% of drug transactions in the country were being "cooked" in Bilibid and announced that eliminating drug trade in prisons will be a priority of his department.
On July 7, 2016, just one week since he took office, Duterte publicly named the top three drug lords behind the huge syndicates in the country and threatened to kill them if they continue their operations. He identified them as Wu Tuan alias "Peter Co", a Chinese triad member operating in Metro Manila and Luzon, Herbert Colanggo (sometimes spelled Colangco) alias "Ampang", another Chinese who was reported to be connected to Kuratong Baleleng and the Parojinog drug syndicate in Mindanao, and Peter Lim, also known as "Jaguar," also a Chinese triad member operating in the Visayas who remains at large.
According to Duterte, both Co and Colanggo are detained at the New Bilibid Prison but continue to run the drug operations of their respective groups. Peter Co was convicted for selling shabu back in 2001 while Colanggo has been serving time at the maximum security compound since 2009. While Duterte earlier identified five Philippine National Police generals as protectors of the drug lords, he also said that his administration is investigating several other government officials and local executives as "persons of interest."
Former Dangerous Drugs Board director and now Solicitor General Jose Calida released a photo on July 22, 2016 showing De Lima side by side with convicted inmate Jaybee Sebastian in orange prison uniform taken in a kubol inside the Bilibid. In a press conference, Calida asked the members of the media present if it was appropriate for a justice secretary to be "rubbing elbows with a convicted felon." He said the photo will be investigated, as well as Sebastian's links to the former secretary as he vowed that "public officials who are coddling drug lords and criminals will be put to jail."
Earlier, a video went viral on social media showing De Lima singing at a party with what netizens claimed to be the convicted drug lord Herbert Colanggo.
From July 20–26, 2016, in the first major raids at the Bilibid since President Duterte took office, the Special Action Force troopers which took over the prison's security operations from the Bureau of Corrections jail guards, was able to confiscate worth of contraband including firearms, mobile phones, marijuana and shabu. They also discovered tunnels in the complex where shabu was being cooked.
In an update to the media on the results of the investigation in the Bilibid, Secretary Aguirre revealed that at least two high-ranking former officials of the Department of Justice as well as officials of the Bureau of Corrections which he refused to name have allegedly received millions from high profile inmates for special treatment.
On August 25, 2016, Duterte tagged the former Justice Secretary, now Senator Leila de Lima as being involved in the Bilibid drug trade. In the drug matrix released to the media which shows the drug trafficking operations in the prison, Duterte also identified former Pangasinan governor, now Congressman Amado Espino Jr., former Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III and De Lima's former driver and alleged lover Ronnie Dayan as part of the Bilibid drug network.
+ Personalities linked to the New Bilibid Prison drug trafficking operationsNamePosition Francisco Baraan III Former UndersecretaryDepartment of Justice Rafael Baraan AdministratorProvince of Pangasinan Franklin Bucayu Regional DirectorPhilippine National Police Region I(former Director of the Bureau of Corrections) Ronnie Dayan Leila de Lima's former driver and bodyguard Leila de Lima Senator(former Secretary of Justice) Amado Espino Jr. Pangasinan-5th District Representative(former Governor of Pangasinan) Raul Sison Board MemberProvince of Pangasinan
Ronnie Dayan, then working for Secretary de Lima, was identified as the drug money collector in the Bilibid and a "case fixer" of well-known politicians in Pangasinan. In a statement a week earlier prior to the start of the Senate probe on alleged extrajudicial killings in the current drug campaign, Duterte called de Lima "immoral" for having an affair with her driver Dayan, a married man, who he claimed collected money from the Bilibid drug lord inmates to fund her senatorial campaign. The president also claimed that de Lima had built a mansion for Dayan in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan from the drug protection money they collected, and that there was evidence from wiretaps and ATM records that would show that the former driver-bodyguard of de Lima transacted with drug syndicates at the New Bilibid Prison when she was Justice Secretary.
The drug matrix also links former Pangasinan governor Espino to then Justice Undersecretary Francisco "Toti" Baraan and his brother, Pangasinan administrator Raffy Baraan, whom the governor allegedly used to cover for his illegal activities. It said that both Baraan and Espino were involved in black sand mining operations in Pangasinan with Espino being charged earlier with plunder for illegal mining. General Bucayo was identified as protector of the narco politicians who was appointed as the PNP Director for Region 1 and as the Bureau of Corrections chief through the help of Secretary de Lima.
A certain “Ms. Cardenosa” also appears in the matrix. She is connected to Dayan and serving as the dummy for his properties. The drug matrix also shows Pangasinan Board Member Sison as connected with “Ms. Cardenosa” and Governor Espino. Malacañang Palace Communications Secretary Martin Andanar later clarified to the media that the President's drug matrix was based on strong evidence from intelligence reports from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Philippine National Police and that it went through thorough validation.
Following the exposé from the President, two former National Bureau of Investigation deputy directors have come forward and said they are willing to testify against de Lima. The two NBI officers, Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala, were discharged by the former Justice Secretary in March 2014 on grounds of their alleged links to the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, other "derogatory reports" about them, and being presidential appointees, they can be removed by simple loss of integrity and confidence. They however claim that they were given separation orders by de Lima without due process because they were investigating her then.
Two former employees of the Department of Justice have also come forward to Secretary Aguirre with affidavits implicating de Lima in the Bilibid drug trade. Jonathan Caranto and Edna Obuyes, both former receiving clerks in the department under De Lima, presented bank deposit slips showing money transfers in millions of pesos to Ronnie Dayan's account. They said De Lima asked them to make those deposits. Secretary Aguirre claimed Caranto and Obuyes were not coerced into signing the affidavits and that they volunteered to testify in order to clear their names.
Secretary Aguirre also told the media that other NBI agents, former Bureau of Corrections officials, and at least 12 high profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison have executed sworn statements against De Lima with two of those witnesses claiming to have personally handed in cash to the former Justice Secretary at her house in Parañaque. Aguirre also announced that convicted drug lord Herbert Colanggo was among those who have executed their affidavits and who agreed to testify against De Lima.
In a speech during his visit to police officers wounded or killed in the ongoing war against drugs on August 29, 2016 in Tacloban, President Duterte called for the senator to resign and said "If I were De Lima, I'll [sic] hang myself." While admitting there were "snippets of truths" in those allegations, De Lima however said "the bulk of it are distortions, exaggerations, and lies." The senator also said she will not take part in any inquiry on the Bilibid drug trade. Congressman Espino also denied the allegations.