DOJ to ask INTERPOL to monitor Guia Gomez Castro

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will request the INTERPOL to monitor elected barangay chairperson Guia Gomez Castro, whom Manila police had tagged as a "drug queen" dealing with corrupt police officers.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the department will issue an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) against Castro, which would direct the Bureau of Immigration to monitor her entry into and departure from the Philippines.

Castro, who has denied the allegations against her, is already out of the country. Immigration authorities allowed her to leave because she had "no derogatory records."

"Once the ILBO is issued, we can request monitoring through the INTERPOL," Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete told reporters in a message.

Perete said the department is checking whether there are existing charges against Castro in court.

Castro was accused by police of buying illegal drugs that erring policemen allegedly confiscated from legitimate operations and "recycled" to be resold in the market.

Castro's dealings were allegedly protected by "ninja cops," the term used to describe the corrupt policemen involved in the scheme.

The elected, but not sworn-in, barangay captain of Barangay 484 Zone 48 claimed she did not know the police officers being connected to her.

"Iba ang sistema ngayon wala nang pagkakataong idepensa ang sarili bigla na lang babarilin ang tao ngayon kahit wala pang napapatunayan," she said in a statement reportedly coursed through a person close to her.

Baguio City mayor Benjamin Magalong, the former chief of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, told senators last week that "drug recycling" operations have links to inmates in the New Bilibid Prison. —NB, GMA News