IN the wake of the discovery of three shabu labs inside the posh Ayala Alabang subdivision in Muntinlupa City, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is again calling on people who have information on secret shabu factories and storage facilities and other illegal drug activities in their area to join their “Operation Private Eye”  and be rich.

PDEA chair Undersecretary Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. maintained that the identities of the informant will be kept in utmost secrecy to protect them and their families from possible reprisals from drug syndicates.

‘Operation: Private Eye’ is a reward and incentive scheme designed to encourage private citizens to report to PDEA any suspected illegal drug activities particularly the presence of clan labs and so-called shabu ‘tiyangges’ in their community.

The granting of the reward money which will depend on the volume of drugs seized and the number of drug traffickers or manufacturers arrested is being screened by a special PDEA committee.

Dozens of informants have become instant millionaires for telling on drug traffickers and manufacturers since the program was launched 10 years ago.

On July last year, two drug tipsters identified only through their aliases ‘Robert’ and ‘Alex Chow’ and  whose faces were covered with bonnets each received P1 million from the PDEA.

‘Robert’ was the tipster who led the PDEA to a medium-scale drug laboratory in Lipa City in Batangas where 6,360 milliliters of liquid shabu valued at millions of pesos were seized.

‘Alex Chow’ provided the PDEA with information that led to the arrest of three Chinese drug manufacturers and the seizure of 193.9 kilograms of shabu in February 2011.    

He received a total of P1.116 million due to the huge volume of shabu confiscated by the PDEA as a result of his information.

Last November, Gutierrez also handed a total of P3.2 million to 16 informants who were identified only thru their codenames: Mayumi, Jaguar, Lyn, Tutpik, Nina De Castro, Alfa Lima, Kidlat, Jao, Eagle 2, Golf, Lady Gaga, Art Angel 2, Andrew E, R Star, Dyeta, and Yang Chow.

Among the informants, ‘Andrew E’ received the biggest reward of more than P1 million for providing the tip that led to the dismantling of two kitchen-type laboratories in Antipolo City and Pampanga respectively, the arrest of five suspects and the recovery of nearly 600 grams of cocaine on May 30 last year.

The information provided by the other tipsters led to the arrest of 31 other drug suspects including seven members of a West African Drug Syndicate notorious for recruiting Filipino ‘drug mules’ abroad, the seizure of 76 kilos of shabu worth P380 million, 39.5 kilograms of cocaine worth P200 million, around 90 kilos of dried marijuana bricks and other shabu precursors and essential chemicals.

“We have established appropriate security measures to ensure that our informants are protected.  We can assure the public that all the information we receive through Private Eye are being handled with utmost confidentiality,” Gutierrez said.

In 2010, the PDEA also awarded P8.35 million to 27 informants under ‘Operation: Private Eye’. The amount translates to an average of more than P300,000 per tipster.