PNP

A UN Office on Drugs and Crime report says non-state armed groups profit from cigarettes smuggled into Mindanao from Indonesia and Vietnam, as the PNP reports ₱12.63 billion in total contraband seized nationwide this year — three-quarters of it illicit tobacco that evades excise tax.

The Senate finance committee endorsed a 7.1% budget increase for the interior department to plenary, even as senators raised questions about equipment shortfalls, an additional ₱200-million request for confidential funds, and a recruitment corruption scheme within the Bureau of Fire Protection.

A sworn affidavit from an alleged middleman names two Bureau of Customs personnel as having received payment for 225 boxes of allegedly smuggled cigarettes, days after HPG and BOC personnel clashed during a warehouse raid in Santa Maria, Bulacan.

The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to the Senate Secretariat and the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office as part of an obstruction investigation tied to the failed attempt to serve the ICC arrest warrant on fugitive Senator Ronald dela Rosa — while the NBI warns more international warrants are imminent against other drug war perpetrators.

Contractor Pacifico "Curlee" Discaya II was taken into PNP custody on June 8 and moved to the Bulacan Provincial Jail after a court ordered his arrest on a non-bailable malversation charge tied to a ₱53.9-million flood control project in Calumpit — ending nearly nine months of Senate detention and turning a once-cooperative witness into a co-accused.

Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada voluntarily surrendered to the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on June 1 after the Sandiganbayan issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him for plunder — choosing custody over Senate sanctuary and, in the process, depriving the Cayetano majority of a critical vote.

With the Supreme Court refusing to block the ICC arrest warrant and the DOJ declaring Dela Rosa a fugitive, the Philippine National Police mobilized specialized tracker units on May 22 to hunt down the senator — who confirmed intelligence shows is still inside the country.

The Office of the Solicitor General filed an 83-page comment urging the Supreme Court to dismiss Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa's bid to block his ICC arrest, arguing Philippine law already authorizes enforcement of the warrant and that dela Rosa's conduct since the warrant surfaced makes him a fugitive from justice.

NBI Director Matibag has named Sen. Robin Padilla as a "person of interest" in relation to the whereabouts of Sen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, as PNP Chief Nartatez denies allegations that Bato's PMA classmates helped him slip away from the Senate.

The PNP is celebrating a 27% drop in crime for early 2026. But between a self-reporting data system, ongoing drug-operation deaths, and a UP study the police can't fully answer, Filipinos deserve to ask: are our streets actually safer, or are we just being told they are?