Who is Edrieza Rimbang, the ex-solon allegedly linked to the P3.5-B shabu from Laos?

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has revealed the Mindanao politician tagged in the attempted smuggling of shabu from Laos to the Philippines: former Bangsamoro Parliament member Edrieza Rimbang.

But who is Rimbang?

According to his Certificate of Candidacy for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Parliamentary elections, the 44-year-old Rimbang is a native of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.

During the 2026 BARMM parliamentary elections, he ran to represent the 3rd District of Lanao del Sur under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Laban, the political party of the Duterte clan. Rimbang lost to Abdul Rauf Adiong.

While running for a seat in parliament, Rimbang listed several of his previous positions on his office’s Facebook.

The former BARMM parliamentary member said that he was a member of the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group in 2002. He also said that he was in the military reserve.

Rimbang said that he is also the chairman of a group called the “Muslim-Christian Solidarity,” a position that he has held since 2014.

From 2014 to 2019, Rimbang was a “Deputy Mayor” of the Manila Muslim Affairs during the term of former president and Manila mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte appointed Rimbang as a member of parliament to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority in 2019.

Before the DILG named Rimbang and his alleged associates, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) had alluded to a Mindanao-based politician as being the financier of the plane in the attempted Laos-Philippines drug smuggling.

PDEA earlier stated that the Mindanao politician was against the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. —LDF, GMA News