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Perth medical expert says he’s rotting in Philippines jail on ‘ludicrous’ drugs charges

An internationally recognised public health expert from WA facing a life term in a Philippines jail on drug charges is fighting for his freedom, claiming he has been falsely accused by corrupt police amid the country’s war on drugs. Elden Chamberlain, 60, has spent more than 18 months languishing in the Cagayan de Oro City Jail after he was arrested by Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency officers in February last year accused of selling 1000 Philippine pesos ($27) of methamphetamine. Speaking to The West Australian from prison this week, Mr Chamberlain said the allegations were “ludicrous” and believes police have framed him. He also described the moment he thought he would be killed by dozens of armed officers in night-vision goggles who stormed his home and held him and a co-accused at gunpoint in a dark room as assault rifle tracer beams scanned their bodies. While Mr Chamberlain said he struggled to understand why he was targeted, he believed it was possibly because of his work helping drug users access health treatment for HIV or because he was a foreigner. His arrest came while former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte waged a “war on drugs” — in which he urged police and members of the public to assassinate addicts. Human Rights Watch has found police, including the PDEA, regularly falsified evidence to justify the killings, which are now subject to an investigation by the International Criminal Court for possible crimes against humanity. Mr Chamberlain — who is a British citizen but grew up in WA, attending Manjimup Senior High School and studying for his undergraduate degree at Curtin University — is respected internationally for his expertise in public health and HIV/AIDS. He has worked with the UN, USAID, AusAID and, at the time of his arrest, was living in Cagayan de Oro and working with the Global Fund for HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the Western Pacific Region representative. “I’ve been accused of selling methamphetamine and being in possession of methamphetamine, both of which are entirely false charges,” Mr Chamberlain said. “The cases against myself and my co-accused are just ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous. And there’s not one person who I have spoken to who believes it in any shape or form, it’s simply not true. “Yet, the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency makes these cases up, they stand up in court, and they lie, and they get away with it.” Mr Chamberlain said the “buy-bust” — or set-up drug deal — police claim to have carried out was staged and a “total fabrication”. He said he was on bail for another “entirely fabricated” case in which he was accused of running a drug den — when he said he was not even in the country. That may have irked the PDEA, he said, and they staged another bust because they knew that case would fail. In an affidavit seen by The West, Mr Chamberlain said he was living in an exclusive subdivision which requires the homeowner’s permission and two security checks to enter — and said there was no evidence of that occurring. CCTV for the time of the bust had been wiped, he said. Mr Chamberlain became emotional when recalling the moment he sat down with a glass of wine in front of the TV after a business call with a colleague and about 30 armed officers “burst into the house”. “As the last one came through the door and shoved me to the floor, he yelled out: ‘Buy bust.’ I was held at gunpoint on the living room floor, as was Ace (Lanzaderas, his co-accused), who had been sitting at the table doing some work. And these people just ran riot through the house.” Mr Chamberlain said at one point, he and Mr Lanzaderas, an administrator for the Global Fund, were dragged to the top floor of the house. There, the lights were turned off, but they knew guns were pointed at them from the red tracer beams aimed at them. “Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” Mr Chamberlain said. “They are known for just killing people ... and I thought, that was it. We are going to be shot.” Mr Chamberlain said when the lights were turned on, everything had been cleared from Mr Lanzaderas’ desk except for a small candy tin. “One of the guys, he put a $1000 peso bill on the table, and he said: ‘Buy bust — you’re under arrest’,” he said. It is alleged 12g of meth and a small amount of marijuana were found. The room was full of confidential client records of vulnerable people, and Mr Chamberlain said it was “ridiculous to suggest that drugs were stored in this location or that drug deals with strangers would take place there”. He claims the drugs were planted. “It is ridiculous to suggest such a breach of confidentiality of records and the destruction of the reputation of the Global Fund for a 1000-peso drug deal,” Mr Chamberlain said in his affidavit. “Might I add that such a ‘street peddling’ drug deal could much more easily have taken place anonymously on the highway or a back street, not even necessitating someone having to violate two security barriers to get to the house of an internationally respected health professional.” He added he was well-paid, and to suggest he would risk his life for an alleged drug deal for $US10 “defied logic and credibility”. “My whole working life has been to protect and support the most at-risk in our communities to HIV, TB and substance misuse,” he said. “I have directed my working life to ensure that people who are substance users receive the care and treatment they need. It makes no sense that I would do anything so heinous as to contribute to creating substance use and addiction — the very conditions I fight against.” Mr Chamberlain added: “I admit I have a very comfortable life. To suggest that I would throw all that away for a 1000-peso drug deal with a complete stranger, coming to a gated community that requires two security checkpoints is ludicrous to the extreme. “Not to be facetious, but 1000 pesos would not even buy me a bottle of wine.” Mr Chamberlain decided to speak out about his situation after being detained for more than a year without the right to a fair and speedy trial. A petition has been started, which calls for the Philippines Government to “respect the rule of law and human rights of Elden Chamberlain and Ace Lanzaderas”. It also calls for the Philippines Department of Justice to follow its “own mandated rules and conduct a marathon trial to conclude their case” and for there to be an investigation into why the case has taken so long to resolve. The British Embassy in Manila confirmed it was aware of Mr Chamberlain’s case, saying “we are in regular communication with him and are giving assistance”. In a positive development for the pair, their defence case is due to start on Thursday. Mr Chamberlain’s brother, Earle Chamberlain, who lives in Busselton, said his family was “devastated” by the situation. “We believe it’s just unjust in that he’s innocent, and he has not been given an opportunity to prove his innocence,” he said. “We hope we can get a result, and he gets his time in court and that the correct outcome is made.” Meanwhile, Elden Chamberlain said he would “never understand why” the PDEA targeted him and that he intended to hold them accountable for their “despicable actions”. “I know it would be much easier just to keep my head down, keep quiet and hope in the next couple of months this will be finished and it will all be dismissed, and I’ll be on the first flight out of the country,” he said. “But it’s just not fair. For evil to flourish, it takes good men to do nothing. And I want to be a good man. “Nothing will change here unless people speak out. I think it’s important to speak out for everyone here who is caught up in the same horror that I am.”

The West Australian exclusivePerth medical expert says he’s rotting in Philippines jail on ‘ludicrous’ drugs charges

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Perth medical expert says he’s rotting in Philippines jail on ‘ludicrous’ drugs charges