Crime: Survivor of Laguna clan war denies dope pushing charges
Balita News
MANILA, Jan. 24 (PNA) - "I'm not a pusher."
This was the vehement denial over Police Blotter of Radyo ng Bayan
last weekend, of Jimmy Manambit, 45, one of the only two survivors of a
long, bloody clan war in Lumban, Laguna, running now into over two
decades claiming already a number of lives.
Manambit was suspected of having joined alleged Laguna drug lords
in putting up a million-peso contract to murder Pagsanjan town Mayor
Abner Afuang.
Afuang said his campaign against drug pushing had seriously
affected the illicit drug market in Laguna. The take of drug peddlers
had dropped to a great extent because of the campaign, he said.
The Sangguniang Panlalalawigan of Laguna had commended Afuang;
Kalahi Rabago, head of the town's Kilusan Kontra Krimen and Supt. Edmund
Zaide, station commander of the Pagsanjan PNP, for the capture of 104
drug law violators from August to October 1998, alone.
But Manambit denied any part in the illicit traffic of drugs in
Lumban.
"Nananahimik ako pero masyado akong pinaiinit pati sa media,"
Manambit lamented.
"Wala akong nalalamang kasalanan kay Mayor Afuang. Pero kung
kailangan ay hihingi ako ng tawad sa kanya," he said.
He said of his detractors: "Sana ay tigilan na ako ng nagaakusa
sa akin. Masyado nila akong pinasasama wala po namang katotohanan ang
ibinibintang sa akin, Masyado nila akong pinaiinit sa tao."
Manambit and his wife manage at least four cottage industry
businesses including a money lending shop and a small restaurant in
Lumban.
His family stays in Matalang 1, the barangay in Lumban which
authorities allege, is haven of at least five notorious drug lords.
Lumban town's officer-in-charge, Danilo Paraiso, named Manambit
allegedly as one of the big fishes in the crime front there.
Manambit, he said, was nabbed last July for alleged possession of
high powered guns but was freed after posting bail of P450,000.
Two weeks after the raid in his house, Paraiso said Manambit was
arrested in Magdalena, Laguna but got his temporary liberty, again, on a
big bail bond.
Manambit said he was surprised why he was arrested in Magdalena
town for the same charges lodged against him by those who raided his
house in Lumban. "Nagtataka ako diyan, Isang pangyayari, dalawang
kaso," he said.
He said he had the guns for his protection. Among the firearms
he said were seized from him were a .45 cal. pistol, an Armalite rifle,
a .9 mm pistol and a .357 magnum revolver.
Afuang had likened street peddling of shabu in the vicinity of
Matalang I and Matalang 2 as almost "a cottage industry ."
But Alfredo "Boy" Alcantara. the barangay captain of Matalang 1
had denied this, adding that the drug situation in his place had
been under control.
Alcantara was also a staunch drug fighter. He was responsible for
the seizure of a large quantity of dope dropped into his place in the
past months.
On the other hand, Chief Insp. Raymundo Oliquiano, the Lumban town
police chief, said that inspite of an intensified campaign against drug
pushing in Lumban, the illicit traffic of dope seems unabated in
Matalang 1.
Afuang, Paraiso, Oliquiano and Manambit lauded the
administration's total war against the drug menace. (PNA) BFM/MB
PNA 01241428