Ermita captain to resign if SK chair is drug user

Ermita barangay captain Felisimo "Emok" Rupinta yesterday said he is willing to resign from his post if it is proven that his Sangguniang Kabataan chairman whom police had arrested on Sunday night for selling shabu is positive of illegal drug use.

Rupinta said he wanted policemen to conduct a drug test on Carl Magno Tude and his seven members of the SK council in order to make the public believe that being the barangay captain, he knows that all the SK council members never use illegal drugs.

However, he clarified that he will only resign if Tude will be tested positive for drug use. He said he would not resign if the SK council members would turn out to be positive for shabu use since he will urge them to resign from their post.

The barangay captain also said he wanted a private laboratory to conduct a drug test on Tude to make sure that the result is exact.

"Di sa ingon nga wa koy salig sa kapolisan kay kauban gud na nato sa trabaho. Ang ako kay tingali ba og masakripisyo ang mga tawo nga maoy nagpili kanato tungod anang isyuha nga dili klaro. Kon ako mismo makaprubar nga klaro, I will do my promise because the issue caused my job, kay di dyud na tinuod ilang mga pasangil," Rupinta said.

Rupinta said he would also appeal to City Councilor Jack Jakosalem to have the seven members of the SK council undergo a drug test to prove that they too were not involved in illegal drug use.

Cebu City Police Office director Melvin Gayotin yesterday said a drug test could only be conducted if Tude will voluntarily undergo such examination.

Gayotin said the police just could not immediately subject Tude to a drug test if he refuses to undergo. But he said whatever the result of Tude's drug test has nothing to do with the SK official's arrest last Sunday for selling drugs.

The city police director explained that the drug test would not help because there are some drug pushers who are not drug users, saying that he does not believe Rupinta's assessment that there were only three drug pushers operating in his barangay.

Tude, who is detained at the CCPO stockade, yesterday told reporters that he is ready to undergo a drug test to prove that he is not a drug user.

Tude, 21, was arrested last Sunday night by the elements of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch in the act of selling shabu together with his minor store helper.

PO2 Joel Cunan and a police informer reportedly bought a pack of shabu worth P200 from the store reportedly owned by Tude's mother at an interior portion of the barangay.

SPO1 Filomeno Mendaros, the leader of the reading team, said the minor female storekeeper received the marked money from Cunan. The minor reportedly took a pack of suspected shabu from an "estante" or glass case and then handed the proceeds over to Tude.

Police said they recovered eight more packs of suspected shabu from the glass case. - Norvie S. Misa and Flor Z. Perolina/LPM