Director General Ronald dela Rosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said yesterday he will ask the children of the slain Odicta couple about the alleged drug matrix that their parents made before they surrendered to Interior Secretary Mike Sueno.
“I will talk to the children, they have to cooperate fully. If there is really a matrix, then they should give it to us,” said Dela Rosa in a press briefing at Camp Crame.
Dela Rosa made the statement following the claim of Sueno about an alleged drug matrix prepared by Melvin and Meriam Odicta which was allegedly left in their house when they met with him at Camp Crame last week.
But lawyer Raymun Fortun, legal counsel of the Odictas, denied the existence of the drug matrix and said that what the coupe told the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group investigators was mere denial of the allegations that they are on an illegal drugs trade.
The alleged drug matrix, along with the meeting of the Odictas to Sueno, is being eyed as the motive behind the killing of the couple in a port in Aklan on Monday.
Despite the denial, Dela Rosa insisted that the Odicta couple is into illegal drug trade, saying that it is an open secret in Iloilo City that Melvin is the same alias Dragon who is the number one drug lord in Western Visayas.
With the death of the Odictas, Dela Rosa, however, said that some groups would replace the operation of the Odictas in Western Visayas region.
Dela Rosa, however, assured the protection of the children of the Odictas amid the possible threats on their life.
“If they feel threatened, they have to go to the police. I will instruct the regional director (Chief Supt. Jose Gentiles) to secure the children,” said Dela Rosa.
“They have to be secured, whatever the sins of the parents, if there is any, I don’t think it is also the sin of the children,” he added.
But Dela Rosa said the children should cooperate with the police if they have knowledge of any illegal drugs links of their parents.
It was recalled that before the meeting of the Odicta couple to Sueno, the office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) disclosed that they would be revealing a drug matrix.
Part of the alleged drug matrix are the names of government officials which include senators, congressmen and local politicians in Western Visayas.
