MOISES Padilla Mayor Magdaleno Peña dismissed on Thursday the statement of Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. questioning his custody of Negros Island Region top drug suspect Ricky Serenio.
On Wednesday, the governor slammed Peña and his son, Pulupandan Mayor Miguel Peña, after Serenio, who linked several high-ranking policemen and other local personalities in the illegal drug trade, was put under their custody.
Marañon said it is “highly questionable” because the drug suspect should not be under the custody of the two mayors who are also questionable personalities.
The governor also said that he will have the act investigated and that he will file a complaint.
The elder Peña, a consultant of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), laughed at the tirades of Marañon.
In a press statement Thursday, Peña challenged the governor to file a complaint.
“My reaction is simple. Gov, please file the case as soon as possible. Ha ha ha!,” the mayor said.
Serenio’s motion for protective custody was granted on January 13 by Regional Trial Court Judge Eduardo Sayson of Branch 54 in Bacolod City.
For his part, Senior Superintendent Mariano Natu-el Jr., deputy regional director for operations of Negros Island Police Regional Office (PRO), said the two town mayors’ custody of Serenio was the prerogative of the court.
It is the “wisdom of the court” that it granted the motion for protective custody, he added.
In his affidavit, Serenio, who is believed to be the bagman of Berya drug group, implicated retired Chief Superintendent Conrado Capa, former director of PRO, and Senior Superintendent William Señoron, acting director of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, claiming they received drug protection money.
Both Capa and Señoron had denied the allegations.
Serenio was arrested on January 8 at Talisay City when he was served a warrant for grave coercion.
He is now detained at the Pulupandan Municipal Police Station.
Corroborating statement
Meanwhile, Police Officer 3 Gilbert Alunan of Bacolod City Police Office executed an affidavit on January 18, before the City Prosecutor’s Office in La Carlota corroborating the statement of Serenio.
Alunan, who was transferred to the Regional Personnel Holding Accounting Unit (RPHAU) on Thursday, confirmed that they have received drug protection money from Serenio.
In his affidavit, which was released to the media Thursday, Alunan said that he was among the police officers who received P5,000 every week from the Berya group.
He said that Serenio was an “asset” of the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) when he was the unit investigator from June 2015 to August 2016.
“I believe that if the former regional director and the provincial director had gone after the drug lords, instead of receiving protection money, our province or the entire NIR would be free from the drug menace. It is embarrassing that President Duterte said that we’re number three in the entire country,” Alunan said.