Odicta once arrested for 'snatching'

"To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace." -- Malcolm X

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- I first heard the name Melvin "Boyet" Odicta in the early 90's when I edited the stories of our police beat reporters,  Ruby Silubrico and Ednalyn Belonio-Diamante, in Sun Star, a daily newspaper in Western Visayas in the Philippines.
If Odicta was not arrested in a buy-bust operation and raids conducted by elements of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) then headed by Supt. Vicente Neptuno in his residence in Brgy. Tanza-Esperanza, City Proper, he was nabbed for, believe it or not, snatching!
Since Odicta was never convicted of snatching, either complainants refused to pursue the case for fear of reprisal or lack of interest, or he was a victim of a mistaken identity as he had insisted, according to police.
In other words, the man who raked in millions of pesos allegedly in trafficking of illegal drugs in year 2000 up and became the most-feared character in the underworld, started as small fry.
Odicta had always insisted he was a legitimate businessman. They operated a taxi company and a restaurant. 

'DRUG LORD'

The man tagged by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and by no less than Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa as "the drug lord", reportedly began as a mere street hooligan.
His sudden transformation from alleged small-time trafficker and "snatcher" to big-time "drug lord" was meteoric, to say the least.
It was when Odicta began to "collaborate" with Merriam Regalado-Porras, who became Mrs. Meriam Odicta, that his name became a byword and his empire ballooned.
Meriam was widow of the notorious gangster Tikboy Porras of Pototan, Iloilo. Porras was murdered reportedly by his former cohorts in a beach resort in Iloilo City in early 80s.
Porras, who also reportedly dabbled as hired killer, was one of the fast-rising illegal drug traffickers in Iloilo province when he was killed, police said. 
Police said it was possible that Meriam "inherited" her dead husband's connections and sources in the illicit deals.

CONVICT

When Odicta was sentenced to life imprisonment for violation of Republic Act 6425 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, he met some of the jailed criminal bigwigs in the New Bilibid Prison, believed to be the source of first-grade metamphetamine chloride or shabu.
Authorities viewed his alleged connections in the New Bilibid Prison mafia plus Meriam's "well-entrenched" tentacles as "formidable" combinations.
When he was released under a controversial circumstance in the 90's, Odicta made a name in the underworld as "Dragon", his nom de guerre in the New Bilibid Prison probably inspired by the huge dragon tattoo on his body. 
Dragon was reportedly both feared by his rivals and admired by his cohorts. His connections were so wide and powerful that he became untouchable for a long time, police said.
The Odicta couple were gunned down by unidentified assailants as they arrived via ro-ro in Caticlan, Aklan on August 29.
They came from a meeting with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ismael "Mike" Sueno in Metro Manila where they reportedly submitted a list containing the "illegal drug trade matrix", a report denied by the couple's lawyers.

Illegal drugs, not prostitution, is No. 1 problem in schools

“Addiction isn’t about substance—you aren’t addicted to the substance. You are addicted to the alteration of mood that the substance brings.” Susan Cheever

By Alex P. Vidal

SAD to say, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has failed to stop the proliferation of illegal drugs in many campuses.

Classes have closed but not a single drug pusher that catered to university and college students was apprehended.

What was tackled in the media was “survival sex” or prostitution involving teenage students who sold their bodies for tuition and allowances.

The City Council even responded to the clamor of a university professor about “survival sex” and held a committee hearing on the issue.

Nothing has been heard after those committee hearings.

“The No. 1 problem that hounds the students (in some universities and colleges in Iloilo) today is illegal drugs. Prostitution is not new. It’s also a concern, but the problems on illegal drugs are still the most serious,” said a retired prosecutor who refused to be named because his grandchildren are studying in one of the universities involved.  

RETIRED

The retired prosecutor said he does not want his grandchildren to be involved in illegal drugs and wants school authorities to tackle the problem with utmost priority in the next school opening.

His nephew was once arrested in a buy-bust operation conducted in Jaro “and I don’t want my grandchildren to remember anything about that incident.”

Sources said drug peddlers used small eateries and restaurants located in the university belts to transact business with students.

Shabu “runners” mixed with potential buyers in billiard halls, 24-hour min-marts, bakery and coffee shops and sometimes could be mistaken as university or office employees because they wore formal attires, sources said.

“Kambio banga” (a term coined by shabu pushers to refer to college coeds who offer sex services for shabu) is a combination of illegal drugs and prostitution “and the most serious problem that has not been addressed until now,” lamented the retired prosecutor.

CASH

College students short of cash don’t need to steal money to buy shabu, it was learned.

They offer their bodies for sex for shabu.

“They perform the sexual services while under the influence of shabu,” confirmed our informant, “Mr. Tooth Decay.”

Many students have dropped out and will miss the graduation ceremonies this summer because they are hooked on shabu; meaning they didn’t take their studies seriously and their schooling was interrupted by their addiction to illegal drugs, said our sources from the Central Philippine University (CPU) in Jaro district and University of Iloilo (UI) in the City Proper in Iloilo City.

-o0o-

UPDATE ON BONIFACIO DRIVE TRAFFIC. As of this writing, traffic jam was still giving motorists a colossal  headache and terrible inconvenience on Bonifacio Drive, Iloilo City Proper due to the ongoing road-widening project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

From the foot of the Forbes Bridge that links the City Proper to the district of La Paz, vehicles are trapped especially during rush hours.

The road going to the Atrium Mall could accommodate only a single lane.

Traffic management authorities should have declared the area as “one-way” only before the start of the DPWH project last March 2.

If they could not do it because they were not authorized, they should have sought the help of the City Council, which should have passed a resolution declaring the Bonifacio Drive as “one way” only.

This is clearly a case of a “small” problem that has been neglected.

‘Bilibid not the only source of Iloilo Dinagyang shabu’

"Making money is certainly the one addiction I cannot shake.” Felix Dennis

By Alex P. Vidal

MANY Ilonggos won’t buy the claims of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that shabu supply for the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City this month will diminish after the raid conducted by the Department of Justice (DoJ) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City on December 15 last year.

Bilibid drug lords could not be the only sources of shabu being distributed all over the country.

Shabu business is organized nationwide.

Drug syndicates have robust tentacles in places where they distribute shabu.

Money is the key.

Judging from their success in recent years, they operate fast, furiously and efficiently, thus they are able to outwit the lawmen.

Chinese chemists and their local contacts set aside a large amount to bribe corrupt law enforcers, thus it would be a disaster for their business if they make the NBP as their only focal point.

Somewhere around the country, there must be bigger, more sophisticated and highly-maintained laboratories aside from the one (the presence of a laboratory inside the NBP has not been officially confirmed as of this writing since the inspection and investigation were still ongoing) inside the NBP.

INDUSTRY

Shabu is a multi-billion cottage industry in the Philippines.

Filipinos are among the biggest users of this so-called “poor man’s cocaine” in Asia, thus syndicates don’t maintain a sloppy operation in this country.

The raid in the NBP, which happened after Justice Secretary Lila de Lima signed the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 10575 or the BuCor Modernization Law, busted the lavish lifestyle of prominent drug lords and gang leaders where several cash, shabu, and drug paraphernalia were seized inside state-of-the-art kubols.

The surprise attack also confirmed reports earlier that drug transactions were done right inside the country’s premier institution for convicted criminals, although authorities have yet to discover the rumored shabu laboratories.

PDEA-6 Regional Director Paul Ledesma revealed last month that local distributors of the illegal substance get their supplies from the NBP drug lords.

Once the earlier (meaning before the Bilibid raid) supplies have been consummated, Ledesma, whose agents operate in Iloilo, Bacolod, Capiz, Antique, Guimaras, and Aklan, including the Boracay Island, said the shabu famine will be felt in the succeeding weeks until the Dinagyang Festival set annually in the third week of January.

TRANSACTION

Drug transactions were reportedly normally done in metro Iloilo’s drive-in motels and budget hotels where foreign and local guests stayed for the week-long religious festival.

Last year, several kilos of shabu worth P8 million sent through a commercial courier, have been confiscated in Bacolod by alert PDEA operatives.

The contraband was believed to have come from the Bilibid drug lords.

Twenty drug lords previously living in comfort inside the Bilibid community have been transferred to the NBI headquarters in Manila, cutting their contacts with clients and partners all over the country, including Western Visayas, it was reported.

But sources said Bilibid could not be the only source of local shabu traffickers.

Past PDEA regional directors pointed to the northern ports of Iloilo as the entry points of shabu intended for Western Visayas.

So far, no arrest has been made here involving big time shabu traffickers, except small time or street-level pushers.

As of 2014, the PDEA regional office under Ledesma, has failed to manacle a single lord drug supposedly operating in Western Visayas although Ledesma claimed they have already identified some of them.