JAYLO LASHES BACK: 'MY ACCUSERS ARE LIARS, CROOKS!'

Former Police Capt. Reynaldo Jaylo has denied allegations that he killed
his own man in a drug operation in Binondo, Manila last January and called
his accusers "liars and crooks."

Jaylo, head of the Presidential Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force, used
to head the Philippine Drug Enforcement's Task Force Hunter. In an
operation last January 9, one of his men, civilian agent Richard Elnar, was
killed along with two suspects, Eric Dino and Enrique Esguerra, in what
Jaylo claims was a shootout.

Two of Jaylo's former agents, however, Ricardo Penalosa and Makati cop SPO1
Narciso Padua, have surfaced to say that Dino and Esguerra were killed and
Elnar "sacrificed" to make it appear that there was a shootout.

Jaylo said Penalosa and Padua were now working under PDEA director general
Anselmo Avenido with whom he had a word war over reports that members of
his task force were involved in extortion activities against suspected drug
traffickers.

He accused the two of being the source of information that Task Force
Hunter operatives "often released arrested drug pushers for a fee"
because "they have an axe to grind against me."

"Iyang sina Penalosa at Padua ay dinismiss ko sa grupo ko dahil sa
malawakang pamimitsa ng mga nahuhuli na mga drug pushers at drug lords,"
Jaylo said.

He said that Penalosa applied as a civilian agent early last year. Penalosa
claimed to be a former bodyguard of then Makati Mayor Nemesio Yabut and a
confidential agent of the National Bureau of Investigation under Director
Santiago Toledo.

"Sir, kahit walang suweldo basta't magtatrabaho lang ako," Jaylo quoted
Penalosa as saying.

It was only last April when Jaylo said he found out about Penalosa's
activities when the latter arrested a certain Akeera, a Japanese suspected
of drug pushing, and extorted from him a sizable amount of money.

Penalosa, Jaylo said, even took the Japanese's expensive cellular phone.
When he found out about the incident, Jaylo fired Penalosa and confiscated
his identification card and firearm.

"Padua is no different from Penalosa because they belong to the same breed
of crooks," said Jaylo.

Padua was previously convicted for drug use, revealed Jaylo, but for some
reason, was reinstated as a police officer in Makati City.